Harry Potter and the Responsibility of Ability
by Nimrod Everdeen
Summary: Harry Potter has many titles: Boy-Who-Lived, Auror, Master of the Mystic Arts. But after an assignment in the United States he gains one more, possibly the most important one yet. Avenger. MCU and other Marvel elements. Pairing undecided. No Slash.
1. Chapter 1

Don't own anything Marvel, Harry Potter, or any other references you recognize.

Chapter 1

"Harry!"

He only had a moment to register the green flash of the floo before he was engulfed in a very familiar tight hug.

"Hi Hermione, hey Ron." Harry said, smiling at the latter while clasping hands with him. "C'mon, I have a booth in the back."

They made their way through the perpetually crowded pub known as The Three Broomsticks and the nostalgia that hit Harry was surprising in its intensity. It had been years since they had been to the pub with just the three of them. Between the smells from the kitchen wafting into the dining area, the crunch of wood shavings and peanut shells beneath his feet, and the view of his closest friends weaving through the crowd of Hogwarts students it felt as if a piece of himself had been returned.

It was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year for the Hogwarts students ensuring that the famous pub was even more crowded than usual. Normally Harry would have avoided the crowd, but the stars had aligned in a way that they never did for Harry Potter and the company he could keep today would more than make up for the glances he was already getting.

"Oh, I almost feel like a third year again. I missed this!" Hermione said as they sat down at the table, three Butterbeers ready and waiting for them. They each took a long pull from their mugs, sighing in contentment in a way that only Rosmerta could provide.

"Forgive me if I prefer being able to walk around without hiding under the Cloak or fearing a detention." Harry retorted, the easy grin on his face taking any bite out of his words.

"Or a Dementor." Ron added dryly, "At least this time there's no escaped convicts after you, right?"

"I can neither confirm nor deny any such allegations."

"Already preparing for the press conferences Mr. Head Auror?" Hermione asked in what she probably thought was a sly manner, but really came off as ecstatic.

"You know that's not a forgone conclusion, Hermione. Besides, Tonks deserves it just as much as I do and has seniority."

"Well the rumors going around the Ministry have you as a sure thing." Why Hermione was pushing the subject was beyond Harry, but he wasn't about to let politics play into what should be a selection based on merit.

"Well you know better than to believe everything you hear, especially when it comes to me. But that's not why I asked you guys to meet me and I hope you haven't been lobbying for me."

"Why did you ask us to come?" Ron asked, taking the opportunity to change the subject that Harry had given him.

"Well I likely only have a few days off before my next assignment, and I'll be a bit further from home this time so I just wanted to catch up. I feel like we barely get to see each other anymore."

"Oh Harry, we miss you too and I know the kids are dying to see you." Hermione said in an earnest voice "But you're leaving again so soon? You only just got back from France."

In fact Harry had gotten home just the night before. He could tell Hermione, and even Ron when he glanced at the other man, were worried that he would be unable to see his niece and nephew as well as the rest of the Weasley clan. He wasn't technically their Uncle but if Harry wasn't Ron and Hermione's brother he didn't know what the word meant. Luckily he would be able to reassure them.

"I'll be home at least a week so don't worry too much guys. How are Rose and Hugo by the way? Where are they?"

"They're with Mum, she demanded that we take at least the morning for ourselves. You know how she can get with the grand kids." Ron replied with a happy grin on his face. Already Ron was looking more relaxed than he had when Harry first saw him step out of the fireplace.

"Yes, Molly really is a saint. I have no idea what we would do without her. My parents love them both as well but they're already doing accidental magic and I'm afraid my dad is going to have a nervous breakdown if he has to go through that again." Dan Granger was almost famous in his Muggleness. He supported Hermione no matter what but even mentioning a spell near him would cause the man's mind to need a reboot. "What about Teddy, will you be seeing him today?"

Harry flicked his finger, casting a silent _Tempus_, causing a fiery _11:07 _to float briefly in the air. "Yea I am, but I'd be surprised if he's out of bed before noon so we have plenty of time." Harry said, ignoring Hermione's eye twitch at his casual wandless magic. In truth he could do very little "wanded" magic without a focus, but he knew plenty of types of magic that either didn't need it or were in fact harder with the use of one. Small things could be done though, and he liked trying to get a rise out of his friends. "Tonks has the day off too so I'll be meeting her at the front gates around one."

"So what's so important that you only have a week downtime? I swear mate, every time we talk I feel better and better about leaving the force after only two years."

Harry laughed, silently agreeing that Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes was a much better fit for Ron. While he had been a reliable friend through their years at Hogwarts and throughout the war, second only to his wife, he just didn't have the temperament to make catching Dark Wizards a career. He much preferred his creature comforts and steady hours, something Harry had never really experienced growing up and thus was just fine with his lifestyle. It was one of the reasons he was quietly hoping that he didn't make Head Auror. Riding a desk just did not sound appealing.

"Obviously most of it's classified, but I can tell you I'll be heading to the States. Something about an increase in Dimensional Energies around New Mexico."

"I don't understand why they would call you, a British wizard, for something like that?" Hermione asked, confused.

"It's not exactly a secret that I studied at Kamar-Taj after the war, not to the Ministry anyway. MACUSA wants one of 'their own' to take a look because they don't trust Drumm. He's the protector of the New York Sanctum that I told you about. What is it about wands that makes us so paranoid? But anyway, you also know how the yanks are about the original twelve. They've been trying to send me assignments since before I even graduated the academy. They finally have not only a real reason to ask that I come, but also something that actually interests me."

"Original twelve?" Ron questioned, looking to his wife.

"The original twelve Aurors of MACUSA. Harry's ancestor, Abraham Potter, was one of them and even their descendants are basically royalty in the Americas because of the sacrifices they made."

"I don't know if I'd say royalty, but yea it's almost as bad as all the hyphenations-that-shall-not-be-named. Add in the fact that I'm the only descendant that's also an active Auror and MACUSA will do anything to get me to emigrate."

"But really Harry, it's not as if Kamar-Taj accepts just anybody and people naturally fear what they don't understand. I for one am glad at least one of our Aurors has access to their libraries, even if it means you get sent on every little thing that might involve them." Hermione said, not even trying to hide her jealousy that he would have access to information that she didn't.

Harry just laughed and changed the subject away from his job and toward the reason he did it at all, his family. Over the next hour and a half the three talked as if they still spent every day together, falling right back into their easy friendship.

**A/N**: So, a couple things. This is my first attempt at creative writing pretty much ever. Tell me what you think.

Obviously AU. Tonks is alive having survived the Battle of Hogwarts. Mostly because I just like her as a character but also because I wouldn't be able to justify Harry ditching his godson if he didn't have at least one of his parents. We'll see these two and how they are with Harry next chapter.

Why Harry trained at Kamar-Taj will be explored though his time there likely won't be. I'm going to try to avoid scenes that we all already know well except the really major things such as the Battle of New York and important character interactions. If you want a Kamar-Taj training montage might I direct you to the movie Dr. Strange? He won't be throwing "wanded" spells around wandlessly but like I said small things are possible. He'll also be more competent in general than the direction canon Harry was heading. If he was to make Head Auror he would have to do a serious 180 in regards to his studies.

What do you think of my reason for Harry heading off to the States? How about the trio's conversation? In my head as I read it they all have their own voice but how does it read to you? Do they sound like different people?

_5.14.19 Minor typo fixes._


	2. Chapter 2

Don't own anything Marvel, Harry Potter, or any other references you recognize.

Chapter 2

After seeing his friends off through the floo in the Three Broomsticks Harry meandered around the main street of Hogsmeade. It was a quarter after one but he knew Tonks and her son would take 'around one' to mean 'start getting dressed at one' so he had time to kill. As he passed by the Hogsmeade branch of Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes Harry noticed that the Hogwarts students seemed to be keeping track of him. This wasn't exactly a new phenomenon to the technically-a-celebrity, but he felt that at 31 it had to be due to die down soon. His status as the most famous wizard in the British Isles, and in fact Europe in its totality if you ignored Quidditch, had not changed since his defeat of Tom Riddle. However, his incessant need of privacy in his youth had likely hurt him more than it had helped. It turns out that if you give the ravenous public what it wants they actually can be sated, for a time.

So, with that nugget of wisdom, he had done the interviews and photo shoots that it seemed everyone wanted. It had come two and a half years after the war so it had taken some time to catch up with demand but eventually the public became bored of his telling the same facts over and over. And that's exactly what he'd done.

He finally gave his endorsement to the rumors that everyone who had attended Hogwarts with him believed. Yes, he'd saved a valuable artifact from a possessed teacher in his first year. Yes, he'd saved a student from a basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. Yes, he had saved himself and his godfather, Sirius Black, from a horde of Dementors and the man was INNOCENT thank you very much. Yes, he'd been entered into the Triwizard Tournament by Voldemort and eventually dueled him. Yes, he'd gone to the Ministry of Magic with a group of students that he'd helped to train to protect a prophecy, no you can't know the prophecy. Yes, Dumbledore gave Harry the information he needed to finally see Riddle in the ground and then witnessed the headmaster's death at the hands of Severus Snape. Yes dammit Voldemort is dead and it only took the lives of some of the greatest people I knew to accomplish it can I go home now?!

But he'd be damned if they were getting more than that. They didn't need to know that he'd died that night. If he had his way only Ron and Hermione would ever know everything. They deserved it and it had only taken him finally healing all his wounds, physical and not, for him to tell them. It turns out that even if you somehow survive a killing curse or two there can be unseen damage.

Harry finally managed to shake those thoughts from his head. Today was supposed to be a Good Day. Being in Hogsmeade again it was inevitable that he would have thoughts of the past but that didn't mean they had to be of the negative variety. Finally as he was nearing the front gates of Hogwarts he saw one of his favorite colors appear, and then drop to the ground an instant later.

"Wotcher, Tonks." Harry said with a wide grin on his face. He reached her and offered his hand to help her up.

Tonks promptly ignored it, shot to her feet while simultaneously shortening her hair to a dirty blonde crew cut with a strong jaw beneath it, and finally snapped to attention with a crisp salute.

"Sir, Auror Tonks reporting for duty, sir!" Tonks said in a deeper than normal voice. Already the nearby students were snickering to each other.

Even though he was annoyed at the reason Tonks was doing this he was well used to her sense of humor so he played along. "You're late private! Drop and give me fifty!" At this Tonks finally glanced at him, but he kept his face in a scowl. Her eyes shifted to the students when she realized he wasn't going to break first. Harry thought he saw brief hesitation before defiance overcame her and she dropped to a push-up position and began counting out loudly "One, two, three..."

Harry surreptitiously hit the ground beneath her with a cushioning charm before turning around to the students. He saw a tangle of turquoise hair pushing its way forward through the crowd and the grin that split his face grew until he finally met the eyes of his godson. Normally a dark brown they instantly shifted to his own green.

"Twenty-two, twenty-three..." Harry winked at his godson before heavily sitting down onto Tonks' back as she came up from another push-up. "OOF" Tonks grunted, letting out a breath as she hit the ground, her arms shooting out spread-eagle. "GERROFF ME!" She shouted, twisting so that she could grab hold of his robes and pull him to the ground with her. They grappled with each other briefly before Tonks got Harry in a headlock, applying just enough pressure to make his face go red. "Say it! Say it Potter! Who wears the trousers!"

"Mum! Harry! Do you _have_ to be as embarrassing as possible every time you're in public?" Teddy complained at the both of them. They ceased their struggle, glancing at each other momentarily before launching at Teddy to pull him into the dog-pile. He yelled out invectives as they tickled his sides.

Relenting after only ten seconds that felt like an eternity to the thirteen-year-old, Tonks muttered "Well, I don't know who taught you to speak like _that_." Harry coughed, deciding it best not to comment.

Teddy grinned up at her before the three embraced in a warm hug. It had only been a little over a month and a half since Tonks and Harry had seen Teddy off on the Hogwarts Express but to the three it still felt like much too long.

"So, you're sure you're not too cool to be spending your first Hogsmeade weekend with us?" Tonks asked "Seems like there's a few people waiting for you."

Teddy glanced at the crowd that had yet to disperse. "Er.. I may have let out that I was spending the day with you two. People were pretty interested for some reason."

"Likely just trying to get an autograph from the famous Tonks, right?" Harry said a touch sarcastically but with a smile on his face.

"Well, maybe... But also maybe because I might have said I could get you two to duel a little bit.." Teddy started off looking at the ground but brightened as they didn't shut him down right away "Y'know, just like you do at home nothing serious!"

"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Teddy, I-"

"Wouldn't want to be embarrassed in front of his adoring fans." Tonk said, cutting Harry off.

"Well, I was going to say I didn't think it was a good idea to duel the elderly, but if you're spry enough to talk like that I suppose we can go a round or two." Harry said with what sounded like genuine concern while avoiding an indignant swat from Tonks. "Alright Teddy, go get us some space."

"Wicked." As Teddy went to tell his fellow students the good news and get them a relatively safe distance away Tonks asked "Rules?"

"No unforgivables?" Harry deadpanned.

"Harry.."

"Fine, fine." Harry sighed sarcastically. "Hey, you remember that show Teddy used to like? The one with all the magical creatures that fought each other?"

"Pokemon? What about it?"

"Yea pokeymans, why don't we start with a pokeymans match?"

"Harry, I know you know what Pokemon is." Tonks said in exasperation. "Just say the word Pokemon."

Harry ignored her and went to the side of the path they were on, searching for a few rocks. He picked two up and transfigured them into the classic red and white ball with his back turned on the crowd so they couldn't see. Layering it with a delayed transfiguration with a holding charm to be released on impact with the ground was a complicated bit of magic, but when you're a trained Auror with power to spare in a low stress situation it was easily doable for Harry. He finally handed one to Tonks while saying "We'll start with these, let them go at it for a bit and then finish with prank jinxes and disarming charms. No bruises on our day off, eh? Just toss that when I do."

Tonks just stared at the ball in her hand, ignoring everything Harry just said to her. "You can transfigure a freaking Pokeball but you can't just say the word Pokemon? Just for me Harry, you can keep up the charade with Teddy but I physically need you to say the word Pokemon."

"I'll say it if you win, but if I win you have to try to morph your head into a Pygmy Puff." Harry said as he backed up so that they were 20 meters away from each other. They had a circle of students surrounding them that seemed to be growing by the minute but Teddy had ensured that they would have enough room.

"Only if you agree to no Kama Sutra magic!" Tonks said getting red faces from the students near enough to overhear her.

"Kamar-Taj, Tonks, and we already agreed on the magic of the duel." Harry replied as he readied his wand in his right hand and his Pokeball in his left. "Count us down, Teddy!" he called over to the boy.

"30! 29! 28!" Teddy started to shout, earning groans and a few scattered chuckles from the crowd of students. "GO!" he shouted only a moment later.

Instantly both Tonks and Harry threw their Pokeballs towards the center of their impromptu dueling ring. Harry's hit first and transformed into a gray, squat figure, barely as tall as most of the students there, with three fins on its head and an extra pair of muscled arms coming out above its shoulders. It was already charging forward as Tonks' landed and became a slightly shorter, lanky figure with bright red boxing gloves and five blunt protrusions coming from its forehead. A cheer went through the crowd as many of the students recognized the creatures and even those that didn't knew a great moment when they experienced it.

The Machamp was attempting to get into the Hitmonchan's guard while it continued to dance away, throwing out jabs so fast none of the witches or wizards could keep track. With its four arms the Machamp was able to block most but even now the audience could tell it wouldn't be able to get close enough to the other creature to do any damage. Harry used this intended distraction to charm large patches of the dirt that made up the road with animation charms and time delayed transfigurations, sending them tumbling towards Tonks who was busy cheering her Pokemon on with half of the crowd. Soon the Machamp's persistence won out, and as the Hitmonchan stopped to rest for only a moment it was engulfed in the four arms of its opponent. The Machamp swiftly brought the other Pokemon above its head and then crashing back down onto one of his own knees and a loud crack rent the air.

"Oooohh.." half the crowd groaned, while the other half cheered wildly for their chosen champion. Tonks was gaping widely at the scene before blasting both creatures back to rock and then to rubble. If she had been paying close attention she might have noticed the last of Harry's charmed dirt sliding into place beneath her, but she was too focused on her 'loss' of the match. It never even crossed her mind that Harry might have purposefully given her the losing Pokemon because she knew him well enough to know that he would not even consider it himself. Between the two of them the fun was had in the competition, not winning or losing.

"Alright Potter! You won the battle but you'll not win _this_ war!" Tonks shouted and began cackling villainously. To those that remembered the laugh, of which only Harry was present, it sounded eerily similar to that of the infamous Bellatrix Lestrange. Already Tonks was throwing out every prank jinx she could think of and Harry responded in kind. They of course recognized most of the spells and by mutual understanding of the nature of the duel allowed the harmless ones to land. The rest were deflected into the sky to dissipate naturally. Within half a minute each was looking increasingly ridiculous. Harry had a pair of great antlers sprouting from his forehead, his robes had been transfigured into a mime costume with a bright red scarf and suspenders, and his face was white and pink polka-dotted.

Tonks was now sporting a fluffy mane of her normal bubble gum pink hair while from the neck down she was green and fuzzy, complete with long spindly fingers making her look like the Grinch. It was as Tonks was about to throw the first disarming charm of the duel in an attempt to end it that Harry's delayed transfigurations triggered. From one moment to the next all of the dirt transfigured into jello, completely encasing the hairy woman in a large cube of the gelatinous confection. The gathered students, who had been cheering and laughing at the ridiculous display, went silent with a collective breath.

"_Bombarda_!" Harry shouted after a moment, his first vocalized spell of the entire encounter. He had yelled it for dramatic effect, but he only powered it enough to get the desired result. The jello exploded outward, completely covering the front few rows of gathered children in the sticky treat causing them to once again shriek and laugh uproariously. Harry summoned Tonks' wand from where it had fallen when she had been abruptly released from her pudding prison and the students momentarily forgot that they were a complete mess and started cheering for the victor.

Harry jogged to where Tonks was still laid out on the ground to help her up. As he pulled her to her feet she hissed at him "You cheated." Harry could tell she wasn't actually angry and just cocked his head confusedly so she elaborated "Bombarda isn't exaclty a prank jinx."

"Oh, well I used it in a pranking manner didn't I?" he countered, sweeping his arm out to the covered students who were talking animatedly amongst themselves. She continued to scowl at him until he sighed in a resigned manner. "Fine, fine, tie then?" At her nod he took her hand, whispered "Pokemon" to her and then turned to the crowd raising their hands together as if champions of a grand competition. As one they bowed dramatically to the clapping students. Already many of the students were attempting to _Scourgify_ their clothes with varying success. Harry thought his bit of fun was a good payment for the free entertainment so left them to it.

Together Tonks and Harry spent the next few minutes answering questions about their duel. They told the students some of the more minors spells they had used on one another, all the while standing in their ridiculous outfits. Soon though Harry thought it was time to spend his day with Teddy and undid the damage to himself and Tonks. Hid bid farewell to the students who had already started to dissipate and he was rather happy to have gotten off with only signing a few autographs.

Once it was just the three of them they began to wander through Hogsmeade, stopping to get Teddy essentials such as quills from Scrivenshaft's and a healthy supply of sweets from Honeydukes. They saved the best for last and finally visited Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes where they were met with the smiling face of George Weasley.

"At last! The newest generation of Marauders has come at last! Once again Hogwarts will shake in terror and laughter, as it should be. Ah, I've been waiting for this day for many years." George sighed dramatically, wiping a fake tear from his eye. "Come with me now, such an important client must have a personal guide through our halls of genius."

Seeing that Tonks was on the verge of shutting the whole thing down, Harry called out to her from where he was standing near the cage of Pygmy Puffs. "Tonks! I think its time for you to pay your end of the bargain." 

She looked at the retreating heads of orange hair and then sighed in resignation, walking to join Harry near the fluff balls. It took her nearly thirty minutes of concentration but she was able to shrink her face in a pinched manner, her eyebrows now much closer to her chin with everything squished in between. From her entire head sprouted fuzz in the same bubble gum pink of her hair. Slowly she was able to lengthen it to the point where her head was now a round ball of straight pink hair with only her squished face free of the fuzz. It was possibly to most ridiculous sight Harry had ever seen and when he conjured a mirror to show her she lost concentration and began laughing with him, undoing all her hard work.

As they were finally getting their laughing under control Teddy returned, stuffing a decidedly colorful shrunken box into his pocket. Together they bid George farewell and returned to their time just enjoying each others presence. They could all tell that their wanderings were taking them towards the Hogwarts gates, though none of them wanted to admit it to themselves yet. Harry made a decision he had been warring with most of the day, mostly to prolong their time together he knew, but it was his trust in his godson that even made it a possible question.

With his decision made he halted his movements towards the front gate and indicated the path running perpendicular to the one they were on. "How about we show him the Shrieking Shack? Didn't I say we'd tell you its secret on your first Hogsmeade weekend?" Harry asked.

"Oh yea! You did. Ah, but if we go there even if you apparate me to the front gates I won't make it back to the castle in time for curfew." Teddy said, dejected.

"I can take care of that, don't worry." Harry said, putting his arm around Teddy's shoulder and leading him towards the famous building. He made eye contact with Tonks to see her concentrating for only a moment before giving him a nod. They had had this discussion a few times already and while she was of the opinion that Harry's secrets were for him to tell, he believed that as Teddy's mother she had final say on anything to do with the child.

"I should go home and get started on dinner." Tonks said suddenly, deciding that this might be better off as a moment between a son and his father figure, or just father as Tonks really thought about it. Harry stepped away and let the two say their goodbyes. "See you at home, Harry." she said a few minutes later before disapparating.

"So, are you finally going to tell me how you got into my common room last year without the headmistress even knowing you were in the castle?" Teddy asked Harry in an excited voice once they were alone.

"Among other things, yes, you'll even get to experience that little trick. Tell me what you know of this place." Harry said, indicating the dilapidated building ahead of them as they came to a stop at the fence surrounding it.

"Well, everyone says it's the most haunted building in the UK, but also no noises have actually been heard from it for a long time." Teddy said with a look of confusion on his face. "But really, what do they even mean when they say most haunted? There's a hundred ghosts and a poltergeist at Hogwarts. Do they mean per square-foot?"

"I don't know, but it doesn't matter because that was just a lie propagated to hide the shack's true purpose. When was the last time people say noises came from it?" Harry asked with interest. He was pretty sure he knew but he'd never bothered to find out.

"Fifteen years is the rumor." Teddy replied with a shrug.

"Right, I think it's closer to seventeen years now. It was during my third year at school."

"You mean when..."

"Yep, when your father was teaching Defense and Sirius Black, my own godfather, was slinking about in the Forbidden Forrest." Harry spoke with a quietness that was rare these days, as if he could look right into the shack and see the events unfolding. "It was here that I gained and lost my first chance at my own family. I thought it was two years after that, when Sirius, well when the Department of Mysteries happened, but it was really here. If Pettigrew hadn't escaped I could have gone and lived with Sirius and even Remus. But that's not what I wanted to tell you here." Harry said, shaking himself of depressing thoughts for the second time that day. "I wanted you to know that it was here that your father spent every full moon for his first four years at Hogwarts. It was a compromise with Dumbledore, you see. He would be safely locked away in the shack during the full moon and could attend Hogwarts like the normal student that he was. Dumbledore started the rumor that the shack was haunted with dangerous spirits and Remus' howls, cries, and yes shrieks helped the rumor along. Whether he was unable to afford Wolfsbane or if it hadn't been invented yet I don't know, but every full moon he would come here to suffer alone."

"Why are you telling me this?" Teddy asked in a quiet voice. Already he had tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

"Because, Teddy, you're thirteen now and if your experiences are anything like my own were you've heard just about every good thing there is to hear about your dad. But you're ready to learn that he was human just like we are. And believe it or not this is a happy story. Your father spent four years suffering alone here in the hopes that he could lead an otherwise normal and happy life. And he did. He became best friends with his roommates, my father, Sirius, and Pettigrew. Some time in that fourth year the three of them discovered just why he was disappearing once a month for the ten months they spent living in the same room. Can you imagine? How could you not notice if your roommate was gone once a month like clockwork. They knew why he was keeping it a secret, obviously, and so they started their own secret project. It was on one of the first full moons of their fifth year that they surprised Remus by following him into the Shrieking Shack. He was livid. He believed they were going to get themselves killed, or worse reject him and tell him they didn't want to be his friends anymore. But of course that didn't happen and they revealed themselves to be animagi, where they would be immune to his cursed bite and between my father and Sirius were strong enough to keep him in line. It was that night they became Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs. From that night on your father never spent another full moon at Hogwarts alone."

Teddy was listening with rapt attention. He knew the overarching information that the story revealed, but he had never heard the intimate details. He couldn't believe that his father had thought so little of himself, but knowing that the man that had always seemed larger than life to Teddy was more human than he'd thought was comforting.

"It was some time later that they created this." Harry said slowly, pulling out a worn piece of folded parchment that Teddy had only seen a few times.

"No way, are you actually letting me have it?" Teddy asked with only a hint of desperation.

"I'm letting you hold onto it, and I'm trusting you to take good care of it and use it responsibly. It then becomes your responsibility to pass it on to the next generation of Marauders." Harry affirmed with a seriousness that didn't surprise Teddy. He knew this was on of the few things Harry had from his own father.

"Are you sure?" Teddy asked with that thought in mind. "I always thought you would want to pass it on to your own kids.."

"Teddy, look at me." Harry started, putting his hands on Teddy's shoulders and facing them toward one another. "First of all, the map says Moony just as it says Prongs. It belongs to the both of us. But more importantly you are my son, just as much as any future children I might have of my own. I've never thought of you as any different." Harry said firmly, finally saying the words that he didn't know need to be said until now. To him it was just a given, but he forgot how easy it was to be insecure at that age. He embraced Teddy in a warm hug before handing him the map.

Teddy reveled in Harry's embrace, glad that they were alone. He took the map reverently, slipped his wand out of his pocket, tapped the map, and whispered "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." His eyes were glued to the parchment as the lines crisscrossed and weaved the map and the names of its mischievous purveyors. He had seen it before, of course, but it was different now that it was his to use.

"I'm trusting you with it and to use it wisely. What's the most important rule?" Harry asked with seriousness.

"Pranks should be funny for everyone, especially the target." he replied without hesitation. "Oh no, the great hall is already filling up, we'd better go."

"Alright, I'll let the Headmistress know we're coming." Harry said as he removed his wand from its sleeve pocket and thought of the day he'd spent with his godson. Prongs was leaping from his wand before he'd even finished saying "_Expecto Patronum._ Headmistress, Teddy and I will be arriving in the antechamber off the great hall momentarily." With that Prongs raced off in the direction of the castle. "She was right mad last time I did this, so best give her some warning. We should probably say bye now. I love you, Teddy. Be good for your professors, and remember our deal. You get Os and EEs and I'll help you start training to be an animagus after your OWLs."

"I will, Harry. Love you too." Teddy mumbled into Harry's shoulder as they were once again hugging. "Mischief managed." With that Teddy stored the map with the box of Wheezes and looked expectantly at Harry, wondering how they were going to get to the castle.

Harry grinned at Teddy as he slipped a sling ring onto his left pointer and middle finger. He lifted his hand up, palm facing away from his body as his right hand began tracing a circle behind it. He could do it much quicker but half the fun was the look of wonder on Teddy's face as orange-red sparks began swirling in sync with his right hand. Slowly the circle expanded until they could see through it into what they recognized as the antechamber off the great hall. "Bloody hell." Teddy muttered, earning a "Language" from Harry. Just as the portal became big enough to step through the door leading to the great hall opened and Headmistress McGonagall ,with her lips in a thin line, entered the room. Harry motioned Teddy to precede him and then they both walked through the portal.

"You're telling me you've been apparating me everywhere for thirteen years when you can do _that?_" Teddy complained. "That was nothing, I wouldn't even know we just traveled at all if I couldn't see the proof!"

Harry grinned unrepentantly but noticed the stern glare coming from the Headmistress. "Hello, Headmistress, lovely to see you again." he said while trying to tell if she was actually mad.

"Mr Lupin, you are very nearly late. I suggest you find Mr. Filch quickly so that he may mark you as here before joining your classmates for dinner." she said, ignoring Harry for the moment.

"Right, thank you Headmistress. See you later Harry!" Teddy called as he was already halfway out the door.

"I don't enjoy pushing the boundaries of the rules, even for my favorite students, Mr. Potter." Minerva said sternly, though Harry could tell it was at least partially faked.

"Ah, but did we actually break any rules?" Harry asked in defense with his own faked seriousness.

"There has never been a rule against guardians teleporting their wards into the school because there has never been anyone that _could_ teleport into the school other than its headmaster's own portkeys, as you well know." she retorted before softening her tone and expression. "See that it doesn't become a habit so that no such rule needs to be created. It is good to see you again, Harry. Stop by for tea soon when you have some time, won't you?" she finished with a small smile.

"Definitely, Minerva. It's good to see you too." After a brief hug the headmistress left through the door. Harry once again created a portal, this time to the kitchen of 12 Grimmauld Place. Already he could smell dinner and joined Tonks in the kitchen to sit down to eat. They spent the night talking about the day they'd spent with Teddy and all the gossip that he'd given them of the goings on at Hogwarts. It was as they were doing the dishes that Tonks brought up the slight elephant in the room.

"Rumor is you'll be made Head." she stated neutrally.

Harry sighed and responded "I know, Hermione told me all about it. I really don't see why when it's you that taught me everything I know about being an Auror."

"Do you really not know why? I could list the reasons for you if you like." she retorted shortly.

"Because I'm the boy-who-lived? The man-who-conquered? If it wasn't that it would be because I'm a man. We both know how Robards can be. No, I don't know of any reason based on actual merit. I may be a better wizard-

"And humble too..." Tonks muttered.

"Remember who it was that taught me to stop selling myself short, Tonks. As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted," Harry continued sarcastically, easing the tension and earning a slight grin from the woman. "I may be a better wizard, or witch respectively, but you're every bit the Auror that I am, better even. I still learn new things when we're on assignment together. And you're better at the administrative side of things. I still get written up on the paperwork I turn in once in a while. You deserve the promotion, and you have every reason to back away from the field a little. Besides, with you as Head I can pawn my paperwork off on you." he finished with a cheeky grin.

"Not bloody likely." she responded with a laugh and then sighed. "I'm not frustrated with you, Harry. I'm sorry for taking it out on you. But it's just so bloody annoying to work twice as hard to earn the same recognition."

"I know, and you would think Hermione of all people would recognize that but I already asked her to lay off. I'll talk to Kingsley on Monday and ask him to base it on merit alone, for whatever it's worth. It's his decision at the end of the day anyway since Robards is retiring in a few weeks."

"I feel awful playing politics, but Hermione is just blinded by her friendship with you. Thanks. It really means a lot to me to have you on my side." Tonks replied, all tension finally leaving her. "You would make a great Head Auror so either way I'll be happy, but I want a fair shot, you know?"

"I know. Now, I'm going to get some sleep so I can get an early start on lazing about tomorrow." Harry said while he embraced Tonks in a strong hug, rubbing her back in a affirmation of support. She laughed with him and they headed their separate ways to bed.

Harry spent the next day exactly as he'd said, doing a whole lot of nothing. He watched telly for a bit, ordered takeaway from the Indian place a few minutes away, and just generally doing what bachelors did when they had a house to themselves and a few hours to kill. That evening he went to the weekly Weasley gathering at the Burrow for dinner where he spent a few hours recharging his batteries by entertaining his nieces and nephews, catching up with the varied gingers and their spouses, and just basking in the love that permeated the property. He was equally glad and guilty about feeling glad that Ginny happened to not come this time. They were friendly enough but there was no better mood killer than an ex making a comment about your time together.

Monday came quickly after that and though Harry was only on call for the week he still made it into the office by ten. He kept his promise and talked to Minister Shacklebolt and Assistant Deputy Head Granger about his thoughts on the upcoming Head Auror, reiterating that it should be merit based alone. Whoever they truly believed would be better for the administration and assignment of Aurors should get the job, not who would get them the best press.

He then spent the rest of the week finishing his paperwork on his previous assignment, thankful that he had a week to do it. How routine guard duty at the ICW could garner so much parchment that he felt he could start his own supply store, Harry would never know. But by the next Sunday evening Harry was quite ready to go into work early and get his new assignment. If that still meant heading to the States like he'd heard, he was all the more for it.

**A/N:** Wow. When I realized how short the previous chapter was I'll admit I was surprised. My respect for authors pumping out 100k+ words has skyrocketed. This one comes in at about 5,800. I really tried to add some more substance. How'd that go? Too much detail? Not enough? The last chapter really should just be tacked on at the top of this one but I'm going to leave it as a learning opportunity.

One reviewer commented that they were excited we'd be jumping right into the plot, but this chapter begged me to be written, though it was still a slog at times. After this though it's all Marvel with bits of Wizarding world thrown in.

In Dr. Strange the ancient one tells us that we can think of spells like 'programs' if we're more comfortable with it so I took that and ran. We see Harry in this chapter 'programming' his spells just a little bit. Time delays, impact detecting, transfiguration holding charms seemed pretty cool to me when I wrote it, what'd you think?

No decision on pairing yet, and I likely won't decide till I start writing the characters. The main pair (Harry) won't be slash. Whether or not minor pairings even come up is to be seen but I'm not against a slash pairing there. But really this isn't a romance fic so don't expect too much out of me.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favorited, followed, and even glanced at the story.


	3. Chapter 3

Don't own anything Marvel, Harry Potter, or any other references you recognize.

Chapter 3

"Nymphadora! Get up! Get up Nymphadora! Nymphadora! Nymphadora!"

It was five a.m. Monday morning and Harry was currently jumping up and down on Tonks' bed right next to her head, yelling at the top of his lungs. Normally, like most sane sentient creatures, he would never say her first name. Luckily at that moment she couldn't understand a word he was saying as she could only hear "KAAA! KA KA! KA KA KAAA! KAAA! KAAA!" while he continually pecked her head.

It had taken him a year and a half to accomplish the animagus transformation, having to replace his mandrake leaf twice, but accomplish it he had. At first he was disappointed with his form, hoping for a stag or a dog of some sort as he had started the process to feel a little bit closer to his father figures. But, flying under his own power and the ability to blend in almost anywhere was nearly invaluable to an Auror so he had come to appreciate it. He thought for a while that he was just a common raven until he had shown his form off to Hermione. She had of course researched it and discovered that he was in fact a brown-necked raven. Harry was of the opinion that it was because of the hyphen in the name, to which Hermione had only rolled her eyes. Most surprising was the near complete lack of distinguishing features that were common among animagi. No green eyes, no lightning bolt shaped patch of feathers, no off color outline of glasses. The only difference to the ravens in the pictures, that they found online, was that his feathers around his hackles were a bit messier.

"Get off you ruddy bird!" Tonks yelled, finally emerging from sleep. She swung an arm out toward the annoyance and Harry was thrown into the nearby wall with a dull _thud_. "Oh hell! Sorry Harry are you alright?" she asked, shooting up into a sitting position and watching Harry seemingly melt out of the raven.

"Yea I'm fine, no broken wings, or arms I guess. Gotta say, finding out you sleep topless these days makes up for it." Harry said, only glancing down briefly.

"Fantastic," she replied sarcastically with a roll of her eyes "why are you waking me up at this time?"

"You know I can't sleep before a new assignment, lets go get a workout in." he pleaded with her.

"Why the hell you're always so excited about foreign assignments..." she muttered before sighing. "Fine, but you're buying lunch today."

"Brilliant, I'll go get coffee. Put a shirt on Tonks, you're an adult now." he replied before quickly racing out of the room to avoid the pillow that was tossed at him.

(S/B)

By nine they had finished their workout, by ten Harry was too busy fidgeting in his cubicle to get any real work done, and by noon he was ready to pull his hair out. It was as Harry was returning to his desk after a quick lunch with Tonks that he was finally hit in the head with a paper aeroplane calling him to Robards' office.

He quickly made his way towards the Head office and knocked on the door, entering when he was called in. Gawain Robards was a harsh looking man with what seemed to be a permanent scowl on his face and graying hair, but he was respected so Harry complied when the man said "Sit, Potter."

Robards flipped through a file silently for a minute, glancing here and there obviously searching for something. When he seemingly found it he set the file down and pinned Harry with his gaze. "Did you know that it's department policy that when an Auror gets home from a foreign assignment they get at least two months before they're even considered for another trip?"

"I know, sir, but-"

"I only ask-" Robards said above him "because you've never taken the full two months."

Harry didn't like where this was going so he would have to try to placate the man. "Sir, respectfully not every trip is a month long like my last one. Sometimes I'm only gone for a few days at a time."

"So you concede that you've just returned from one of your longer assignments and yet here you are champing at the bit to leave again. Why?"

"Well, sir, I've heard that I'm actually being requested because of my unique.. talents. And that interests me. If it's a real dimensional event I'm likely the only wizard in the world that can actually find out what happened so long as MACUSA insists on not making contact with the New York Sanctum. I could even go talk to Sol Rama at the London Sanctum, we'd know what happened in forty-five minutes."

"So you really do believe there are multiple dimensions?" Robards asked skeptically, ignoring the last part.

Harry grinned at him almost predatorily and said "Infinite. I can show you, if you like."

"Thank you, but no. This is all besides the point. What I'm trying to get at with all of this is that since becoming a Senior Auror you've spent nearly as much time away from British shores as you have on them. Now the new blood in the Ministry might see that as a good thing. I'm told you're 'worldly,' whatever that means. But we both know the traditionalists still have sway. They see an Auror that does everything he can to get away from Britain and her people."

"That's unfair, sir, I've given everything to her people. Multiple times." Harry responded with a bit of heat in his voice.

"I know that, and so does everyone else. That's the only reason I can still recommend you to replace me without getting laughed out of the Ministry!" Robards finished with a bit more heat himself.

"Then don't. I've made it as clear as I can without taking an ad out in the Prophet that I don't exactly want the job, sir. Why are you so set on it?" Harry asked in confusion. This seemed like something more than a simple promotion.

Robards stared into Harry's eyes hard for a few moments before the tension began receding from his face and shoulders, leaving behind by only weariness. He let out a sigh and finally confirmed Harry's blossoming suspicion. "I'm getting old, Potter. A wizard starts to think about their legacy. If I can say I was succeeded by _you,_ well, that's something no one could fault."

"With all due respect, sir, that's nundushite." Harry said flippantly and instantly the scowl returned to Robards' face. Harry continued quickly so that he wasn't cutoff, or cursed. "You survived two wars with Riddle, the second one while working within the Ministry to limit the damage they could do. You led this department in purging the Death Eaters from the Ministry afterwards, and then again during all the restructuring. When Gawain Robards comes up that's what people will talk about, not who comes after you."

Robards' continued to stare at Harry, but seemed to be looking through him more than at him as if thinking on what he'd been told. After what Harry considered an uncomfortably long silence Robards just grunted. "Fine, I'll keep quiet if Shack ignores me but I'm still recommending you."

"Thank you, sir." Harry said with relief.

Robards nodded and continued in his more normal, gruff tone. "Anyway, speaking of, I couldn't bench you on this one even if I wanted to. This comes down straight from the Minister's office. Shack delivered it himself."

"Really? What's he getting out of it then?" Harry asked in surprise. The Minister's office only gave assignments like this when it was a political move.

"MACUSA will back Britain's bid for the world cup to be held here in 2014. All just to get a Potter on their shores, ridiculous." Robards replied with a shake of his head.

"Well, we all make sacrifices for our country, sir. If my suffering helps bring the cup to Britain, I'll do it." Harry replied with a grin. "At least this time we'll have a decent team, right?"

"Right, heard a couple of the Harpies chasers will make the national team."

"That's low, sir."

Robards barked out a single laugh and continued "You leave tomorrow. Grab Tonks, this'll be the last foreign assignment for one of you, and take the rest of the day to get packed. Report to the portkey office at thirteen-hundred. Dismissed."

Harry nodded and left the office to find Tonks. He found her gossiping with the DMLE receptionist and told her the good news. Together they left the Ministry and returned to Grimmauld Place to pack their things. They didn't know how long the assignment was supposed to be so they packed enough for a week, figuring they could wash their clothes and buy anything they needed if they ended up staying longer. With expansion charms luggage real estate wasn't exactly hard to come by but packing and unpacking months worth of clothing and toiletries was more hassle than it was worth. After doing a bit of random internet research on the States Harry also decided to pack his Triumph Bonneville that had been restored by Arthur, figuring that if he had some time to kill he could ride it through the vast open country that made up most of the United States.

(S/B)

The portkey trip was longer than he was used to but he was ready for the tell-tale signs of the end nearing. The spinning slowed ever so slightly and the item that was charmed began to vibrate just enough to notice. Two beats later he removed his finger from the maraca and drifted to the ground, a dark polished marble. His left hand slid under Tonks' elbow for the inevitable fall while his right removed his pocket watch, formerly Fabian Prewett's, and saw it auto adjusting to show 8:14 a.m. local time. He stored his watch and glanced around. The ceiling was hundreds of feet up and the accents adorning the walls and railings were what looked like pure gold. Magicals did love to show off, he knew, but even he had to admit the dark stone and gold shining in the morning sun contrasted rather nicely.

Tonks stumbled but remained upright and he released her when he received a muttered "Thanks." He saw a group approaching made up of who he assumed was the president of MACUSA and their Chief Auror. He noticed one reporter with their own camera and was pleasantly surprised by their restraint. They didn't wear robes, instead favoring trench coats with three piece suits underneath and with a sweep of his wand around his body the black robe he was wearing transfigured into a black trench coat and black suit complete with a burgundy vest. Tonks followed his lead moments later, silently agreeing that it was best to blend in.

The man that reached them first was plain looking, the first signs of an inactive life showing around his neck, and had light brown hair. He wore what Harry sometimes liked to call 'Fudge-face,' not that he'd ever say it out loud. It was a political smile, but this man at least seemed to actually be happy. As they shook hands the man began introductions. "President Quahog, Mr. Potter, but you can call me Samuel. This is Chief Auror Heahke. You have no idea how happy we are to have you here. Tour first, I should think, right Viho?"

The man dubbed Viho Heahke just hummed in acceptance. He was a well built man with long dark hair and laugh lines wrinkling his face. Harry could tell that the man wanted to get to business as quickly as possible but was well used to waiting for his President to finish showing off. Overall he had the feel of a pleasant but serious fellow.

"The pleasure is ours, Mr. President, Mr. Heahke. This is my partner, Auror Tonks. A tour would be welcome but I am excited to get down to business." Harry replied in his most neutral 'let's get on with it' voice. There was a flash as he shook hands with both men, indicating the start of the reporter's job.

From there they saw a memorial to the fallen magicals of the Salem Witch Trials, statues of the original twelve Aurors including one that was obviously Abraham Potter, and a multi-story tall portrait of Quahog. The last was seen just as they were climbing the stairs to the next level and it was then Viho decided to utter his first words.

"This is why you're here." he said in a gravelly voice, indicating what at first glance looked like a clock. Upon inspection Harry noticed it was similar to the Weasley family clock but instead of locations it had threat levels ranging from forest green 'Zero Threat' to angry red 'Emergency 10:45' whatever that meant. Currently the largest hand was deep into orange 'Severe: Unexplained Activity' bordering on the red slice. "It jumped from low threat to where it is now a few weeks ago, right before the incidents. Hasn't been this bad since the obscurus in the twenties. The clock is the only reason we even know anything happened. When we noticed the change we went to the monitoring room and couldn't see any significant flares. It was only after the second pulse that we noticed it coming from north of Albuquerque, where we have a small magical community. After that we set up more monitoring charms in the Navajo wizarding settlement on the Arizona/New Mexico border at their allowance. From the third event we were able to triangulate the disturbance to a small town called Puente Antiguo, a little over a hundred miles north of Albuquerque, where no known magicals live. The fourth event happened as we were setting up camp outside the town. When we arrived..." Viho shook his head as he trailed off.

"Er.. I should get going. Lots of meetings today, you know. Stop by if anything new comes up." Samuel said during the intervening silence, obviously uncomfortable with the new subject matter. The reporter followed the president towards the lifts as he already knew the information that Harry would need to be brought up to speed on.

Harry let Viho have a few moments as he knew that look well. It was the look any protector had when they felt as if they had failed. He didn't know exactly what happened to this town, Puente Antiguo, but he knew it wasn't going to be pretty. For a few minutes he and Tonks discussed what they had learned between themselves. Eventually he asked "Can you tell us anything about the energy signatures? If it was just a large magical event I doubt you would have called me in, right?"

"Right." Viho responded with a nod, coming out of his memories. "We didn't know what it was we were recording until we compared it with the notes that your own Unspeakables sent us on the energy you throw off when you use your other abilities. You told them it was called 'Dimensional Energy.' After that we recorded what we could at the event sites. One of our Aurors reported seeing the event from a distance, she described it as a tornado briefly touching down with an inner light. But by then the no-majs were crawling all over it. From the surface scans we did it didn't seem like they suspected magicals so we didn't start obliviations. President Quahog wants to blame the Sorcerers but I've been able to put him off until we could get you here."

"You recorded energies a hundred miles out? That was no Sorcerer." Harry said shaking his head, nearly incredulous. "The only thing off the top of my head that could put out that much energy and not make the news around the world are some of the less subtle ways of traveling between dimensions. I should inform you that I will be speaking to Daniel Drumm about this. I would be surprised if they don't know exactly what happened, but I will go to the scene and get my own preliminary understanding first." he finished with a tone that made it clear he wouldn't like to argue this point.

"Truthfully, I hoped you would say that. It is exactly what I've been advising but.." Viho trailed off with a shrug, silently adding 'what can you do?'

"How are we getting there?" Tonks asked.

"We'll portkey you to our staging ground fifty miles west. We've already pulled out of the area but we left the no-maj repelling charms up in anticipation of your arrival. It's close enough to the first site that you'll be able to see it from the air but the no-majs have already set up camp there. From there you can fly the rest of the way to the town. It's mostly desert so you won't have to worry about detection until you're ten miles away. Are we providing kits or did you bring your own?"

"Brought our own, we hate to assume anything." Tonks replied. They were referencing the standard field kit all Aurors carried. It had a small number of essential healing potions and salves, dark detectors, Auror Omnioculars, and of course brooms. "When can we leave?"

"Right away, preferably. The last event was a few days ago so the physical evidence might still be there for you to see." Viho said, already walking towards the lifts. Tonks and Harry followed along, looking curiously at the various house elves that apparently had careers here. One was polishing wands, another shoes and briefcases, and every lift had a house elf operator. A few floors up and they were ready for their second portkey of the day.

(S/B)

The portkey was shorter this time but the results were the same. As Harry released Tonks' arm and stowed his watch he once again took stock of his surroundings. It was obvious that there was a camp of some sort here that was torn down only very recently. In the distance he could see the white tarp buildings that Viho had described the muggles using. Having been trained by Tonks it was normal for them to be on the same page so he was already agreeing when she said "We should check it out first on foot, muggle stealth package, and then decide where to go from there."

The muggle stealth package consisted of first a tracking charm on each other that would help them maneuver with the rest of the spells active. After that they cast a minor muggle repelling charm over themselves, just strong enough to make them uninteresting to anyone that happened to glance their way. A person that was stationed in a specific spot suddenly deciding to leave against all training was suspicious to even the dullest people. Silencing charms were next, cast over their bodies and a bubble-of-silence around their heads. They could get as far as 10 meters before it would break, allowing them to communicate unheard. Next came the most obvious, the disillusionment charm, so that while they moved slowly they would be undetectable to the naked eye. Finally was a continuously cast obliteration charm, removing any evidence that they had passed through. It removed footprints, any body waste such as hair, skin, blood, and even clothing fabrics. It was unlikely such things would be noticed but procedures called for it.

Slowly they made their way towards the tent buildings, checking every once in a while to see what they could through their omnioculars. So far they made out a two man patrol every ten minutes, nothing very strenuous for a pair of trained magicals. It seemed like the muggles were even losing interest in this place, indicating that they believed nothing was left to learn here. The pair stopped about fifty meters away and began muttering detection incantations. Tonks was first to voice her opinion.

"Well, no magic that I recognize. You?"

"Definitely no Personal Energy. I'm detecting some residual Dimensional Energy, though." Harry replied. He had stowed his wand away and was now making complicated hand gestures. After a few moments he continued "Hm. Dark Energy, that's strange."

"Dark?" Tonks repeated warily. She hadn't been expecting a fight, not that she would back down.

"Sorry, bit of a misnomer from where we're standing. It's not like dark magic, dark energy is just another type of energy in the greater dimensional energies." Harry replied quickly to reassure her. "I would like to get a soil sample if I could. That would tell me a lot more."

"These guys look like they'd have infrared, so you'll be alone in there. I'll setup here as a fallback position for you." Tonks replied, already whispering incantations to secure the area.

"Right, be back in a bit." Harry said as he started forward again. He left the stealth package up but enhanced it with his father's Invisibility Cloak which was capable of blocking the entire electromagnetic spectrum, not that Harry knew what a gamma ray was. He timed it well enough that the patrolling pair was on the other side of the compound as he stalked closer, once again casting the obliteration charm as he went. When he made it to the wall of the tent he cast another slight muggle repelling charm and then cast a one way viewing charm. Seeing no people or cameras on the other side he transfigured the wall to have a hole large enough for him to slip through. He shut it once through and continued slowly through the hallways of the tent building. A _Homenum Revelio_ revealed only five other humans within the compound, easily avoidable. A path obviously led toward the center and Harry eventually came out into an open-air central chamber.

'Well, that's not natural.' he thought to himself. In the center of the tent building was what looked like a short rock spire, indented with a deep rectangular hole. Immediately he set to work, gathering various samples of soil and rock from the spire. He cast a few more detection spells, getting similar if stronger results. Finally he decided to reassure Tonks further and ran a Probity Probe, one of his dark detectors, over the rock spire and didn't detect any dark magic.

He quickly made his way back out, having to wait at the outer wall for the patrol to pass once again. From there he steadily made his way back to Tonks and then informed her on what he had discovered. Having learned what they could here they decided to make their way towards the town to the east. After twenty minutes they felt that they were far enough away and mounted their brooms, expediting their trip many times over. The town came into view and already they could tell it was devastated. Whatever had happened here tore the small town apart. Buildings were missing massive chunks of their structures, some having completely collapsed. Cars were overturned here and there and large scorch marks littered the pavement. They set down outside of the town and got to work establishing another fallback position.

Once they were secure Tonks once again started off their strategy session. "That's a lot of grunts. I could probably impersonate one and try to work some information out of one of them." She focused on the jump suits they were wearing through her omnioculars before transfiguring her outfit into a perfect replica of one. She shifted her features to a generic young woman with plain features and brown hair.

"Make sure you surface scan for any code words they might use, these guys seem professional." Harry replied, watching the agents pack up what looked like scrap metal. "See if you can get a tracking charm on some of that black metal, they seem to be gathering it specifically. Maybe we can follow them back to wherever they're taking it, discover what caused all this."

"Right, good call. What about you?"

"I'll get a bird's eye view-"

"Do you have to say that _every_ time?" Tonks asked with exasperation.

"You know that I do." Harry replied, grinning. "I'll check the other side of town, make sure we're not missing anything. Meet back here in half an hour?"

"Sounds good. See you then."

As Tonks walked away, still disillusioned so that she could slip in unnoticed, Harry found a rock and transfigured it into a near replica of his animagus form. He charmed it so that it would follow him in and land near wherever he did. Over the years he had noticed that a mated pair of ravens looking to defend its territory was much less suspicious than a single one staring at whatever was interesting in an area.

Once in the air with his new feathered friend Harry immediately realized that the damage that they had seen from the ground wasn't even half of it. The town was essentially unlivable now. Anyone wanting to move back into their homes here would be starting from scratch, sometimes worse than that. He could see now why Viho didn't want to describe the destruction. Cars were strewn everywhere, sometimes completely inside buildings, sometimes far out into the surrounding desert. It looked as though a tornado had swept through if you ignored the scorch marks.

About a mile away on the other side of town Harry could see another of the white-tarp tents. He lazily made his way towards it, riding air currents up and down as he surveyed the town further. Other than the destruction and the scrap metal it didn't seem to have anything for him. He landed on the tent just as two men in suits exited it and stood outside, mid conversation.

"-ll Pedersen."

"And she'll be able to translate this?" If Harry had ever heard a more neutral voice he couldn't remember it.

"I don't know if anyone will be able to translate that, but if anyone can it's her. She's made Norse myth her life study and all I can tell you is that it's definitely Norse."

"Thank you for your time, John."

Harry watched as the two men started walking away, the one with the monotone voice already making a phone call. 'Norse? Dimensional Energies.. Better take a look.' he thought to himself, already pecking away at the tarp on the side facing away from town where no one could see. It took him a few minutes but he got the hole big enough to slip through, and as he landed he slowly shifted back to human form. Reapplying the stealth package only took a moment, and then he was studying the new scorch marks, though they were different.

"Bloody hell..." he breathed out. Immediately he recognized the runic circle. He didn't know what any of the runes meant, except maybe two or three, but he did know two things. One, from what little he had seen when Hermione studied runes, no witch or wizard could produce a runic circle this intricate. And two, much more importantly, he recognized it from his studying at Kamar-Taj.

"Asgard? They haven't been here in two thousand years.." he continued muttering to himself. He levitated his omnioculars to the top of the tent to record the circle and took soil samples, though he now knew what caused the energy spikes. He didn't think anyone would believe him but the least he could do was be thorough. He then ran the Probity Probe over it, almost hoping that it would detect dark magic so that he could have some other explanation. A few detection spells later, all coming up with the expected results, and Harry was left staring at the circle dumbfounded.

"-r here by tomorrow. Yes, sir."

The approaching voice snapped Harry out of his stupor. Quickly he stored his equipment and set to work hiding his existence here. Obliteration charms, followed by a delayed _Reparo_, followed by a shorter delayed _Ascendio_ cast on himself and Harry once again shifted to a raven. His last spell activated launching him through the hole that was already knitting itself closed. Moments later he and his raven companion were on their way back to the secured location where Tonks was waiting.

"I think these people have been hit with a Confundus." Tonks said, shaking her head as Harry shifted again, sitting heavily on a rock. "You'll not believe what they think happened here." she continued, chuckling.

"Try me..." Harry muttered back, staring out into nothing.

"They seem to think Thor, as in the god of thunder, battled a ten foot tall robot. I mean that would explain the scrap metal, got the tracking charms by the way, but Thor? Ridiculous." She continued without looking at him as she was watching the town through her omnioculars once again.

"Yea.. ridiculous."

"What's wrong with you? Oh no, did you find the bodies then?" she asked with concern walking over to console her friend.

"What? What bodies?" Harry asked, finally snapping out of his thoughts.

"No bodies? I guess a couple people died in.. whatever.. happened here." Tonks replied, now confused.

"No, I didn't see them. That makes this so much worse though.. Tonks, it's.. I think it was actually Thor."

"Kinda weird even for you to go from talking about bodies to jokes, but alright." Tonks said while eyeing Harry skeptically.

"Just look." Harry said shortly, thrusting his omnioculars into her hands.

She whistled as she viewed the last few minutes recorded on them. "Wow, I mean I studied runes and I can't make out a tenth of that. At least we know it was a magical then, right? A bloody brilliant magical, but still.."

"No witch or wizard can create that circle, Tonks. At least no witch or wizard from earth."

"Earth? What, you're serious? You think Thor Odinson was here. Harry, those are myths even to magicals." she said with a laugh.

"Not to sorcerers." Harry retorted, and Tonks stopped laughing abruptly. "Think about it. Less subtle ways of travel, tornado touching down with an inner light, dimensional energy spikes, that runic circle. That was the Bifrost Bridge."

"And that is..." Tonks said in a smaller voice. She had come to trust Harry when he spoke about the 'other' magicals.

"The Bifrost is an inter-dimensional energy used to, among other things, travel between realms. The Bifrost Bridge is an Asgardian device used to harness that energy letting anyone use it." Harry replied, staring up into the sky now. Tonks thought he might be waiting for something. "This is bad, Tonks. Really bad."

"Why? Well, aside from the obvious." she said while sweeping her arm out to the devastated town.

"Because, for the first time since the Ancient One took her post, we're not alone on Earth."

**A/N** I wanted to show what I thought Aurors might be while not at war. I think investigators and special-ops is probably the name of the game for the best of the best in Wizarding law enforcement. What do you all think?

Writing this chapter finally made me watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It was.. fine. It kinda throws canon Potter magic through a loop, but not so much so that I'm going to change a lot. The only person throwing around 'wandless' magic is Grindewald so that's easily ignored. I guess all the fanon luggage trunks with entire flats in them is now canon though, so that's cool. The only problem is how to get the Wizards at MACUSA (which is pronounce muh-cooz-uh apparently) to not just instantly repair New York again.

I'm trying to limit my American slang in favor of British slang, and edited the last chapter a tiny bit to reflect that. I'm doing my best but my only experience with Brits is a girl I met from Essex while in Europe.. so..

Fun fact: Viho Heahke is a Cheyenne tribe name that (from my short googling) literally translates to Chief man's name, hence Auror Chief. Thanks to all my readers.

Edit 5/28/19: On the advice of a review I decided that Harry would in fact know that a flock of ravens wasn't a normal thing. This chapter has been edited to reflect that.


	4. Chapter 4

Don't own anything Marvel, Harry Potter, or any other references you recognize.

Chapter 4

"Because, for the first time since the Ancient One took her post, we're not alone on Earth."

Tonks sat next to Harry and stared up into the sky along side him. It took her a few minutes to get her head around what she'd heard. For all her trust in Harry, for all her knowledge of strange and wonderful magical creatures, she just couldn't fully believe that an inter-dimensional god had visited their world, let alone actually existed.

"But.. Why is that a bad thing? From all the myths Thor is usually the hero, so if he was here fighting something he probably saved us from more destruction than just this town, right?" Tonks asked when she came out of her contemplation. She could ignore her doubt for now to get the job done. First, find the evidence. Next, find the motivation. And last, find the culprit. She nearly snorted in a very unladylike manner.

Harry thought about it for a few moments. Thor _was _supposed to be the good guy. But he was also depicted as warlike. "All the scorch marks seem to point towards the 'robot' being the aggressor, that's true. But who sent it, then? For what purpose? Four pulses of the Bifrost Bridge implies that the only beings coming and going are Asgardian. So was Thor here cleaning up their own mess and we're just collateral? Was it just a spot of fun?" Harry asked with derision. Fighting for the sake of fighting was the height of stupidity to him. "And what's really worrying is that it implies that Earth is once again open to the other realms. When the Asgardians officially left almost two millennium ago it was because we weren't capable of keeping up. Are we now?"

Tonks just shrugged when she saw Harry looking at her. When she didn't have all the answers like he'd hoped Harry stood and began pacing. "It doesn't matter. It's unlikely we'll be finding an Asgardian to ask. So what then? There's always another angle."

"The muggles." Tonks said suddenly and Harry stopped his pacing to look at her with a cocked eyebrow. "The muggles. How did they get here before MACUSA? I know they have communications that are faster than a lot of ours, but how did they know it was anything more than a funny weather pattern before the fighting started? That's not the local bobby, Harry." she said, once again indicating the town and the jumpsuit wearing agents within. "They're professional. A little loose-lipped once they thought I was one of them, but professional. From what I could gather they've been here since the first event."

"So we try to infiltrate somehow?" Harry asked. "I doubt the ones on cleanup duty will know much of anything."

"We just have to give the metal I got tracking charms on a few days to get wherever it's going, follow it, and then ask whoever is in charge there." she replied with a shrug. "Unless you'd rather go back into town and try a deeper legilimency probe and see if the grunts know where their headquarters is."

Harry shook his head and replied "Even if we could isolate one that still means memory modifications of whoever we probe and likely anyone that noticed their absence. Your first plan is the right call."

"Great, let's go get a drink and a hotel for the night." Tonks said almost brightly, obviously trying to lighten the mood.

"We should talk to Drumm now, we probably won't learn anything new but at least we can confirm our theory." Harry said with finality. He drew his sling ring and opened a portal to the front steps of the New York Sanctum.

(S/B)

Before he could even knock Harry found himself standing at the top of the stairs inside the Sanctum. Something he'd noticed during his previous visits to the three Sanctums was that the Master of said buildings always seemed to enjoy playing it up. Even the Ancient One had a routine for prospective students of Kamar-Taj. For the two years he'd apprenticed under the woman he had seen at least four people have nervous breakdowns after their 'trip' through the dimensions. Double that had outright become hostile, thinking that she was attempting to cast some nefarious spell on defenseless victims. He suspected it was some sort of litmus test. If a person couldn't handle the unexpected, maybe they couldn't be taught the Mystic Arts? He'd find out some day.

A moment later he found himself transported once again, this time to a large glass case with a familiar red cloak floating within. He smiled at it fondly and said "So, how about today buddy? Feel like helping me fly around?" The cloak gave an eerily accurate attempt at a shrug.

"The fact that it even responds to you is a good sign, maybe next time. I am glad to see you again, Harry Potter. Have you come to use the library once more?" Daniel Drumm asked. He was a very fit man, showing a life of hard exercise and training, and had a clean shaven head. He wore a sleeveless leather tunic and bracers and spoke with what Harry was told was a Haitian accent.

"Hello, Daniel. No, ah, where's my partner? We're actually here on an assignment." Harry said while glancing around. Daniel pushed his hands in a manner Harry recognized and a moment later she appeared next to him. He had to catch her to prevent her from falling back onto a table as she ran a hand through the air, as if expecting to feel something.

"What the hell was that?" Tonks asked in confusion. Her hair had shifted to red, a clear sign that she wasn't happy but was willing to hear an explanation.

"That was the mirror dimension, we had to be sure you were an ally of Master Potter. My apologies if it was unpleasant." Daniel replied in an even voice.

"Daniel, you mirror dimension-ed her? You people need to learn how to let a bloke knock on a door and then answer it." Harry replied with a sigh, though he did have to fight a smile. Tonks' hair shifted back to the purple that she'd been wearing ever since investigating Puente Antiguo and she gave a mollified nod. "Anyway, we were hoping you could tell us anything you know about what happened in New Mexico last week. We're pretty sure we have the gist of it, but the fallout of it.. I don't have a good feeling about it."

"A strange thing did occur last week." Daniel said in a stoic voice laced with a hint of amusement. "The Ancient One visited me here. She told me that should you arrive asking questions that I was to confirm anything you may have guessed correctly, but that she would be the one to give you the information you may have missed. Unfortunately, she is busy at the moment with a threat."

"Alright, that's unexpected, and makes me a lot more worried.." Harry said with a frown.

"Why's that, Harry?" Tonks asked as she looked around at the interesting items stored on the walls, various tables, and in glass cases. She knew better than to touch any obviously magical artifacts without knowing exactly what they did.

"It is because the Ancient One does not concern herself with trivial matters. As she has taken an interest in your investigation you can assume that it is not trivial." Daniel replied for him. Harry was nodding along while the other man spoke, once again deep in thought.

"Bollocks.. Alright, you can confirm anything we got right then?" Harry asked and received a nod in confirmation.

"We're not going to press him on that? It's not exactly protocol to just accept someone telling us what we can and can't ask." Tonks said, merely curious. She was feeling a bit out of her depth dealing with someone that had access to magic that she wouldn't even begin to know how to counter. Harry kept it fairly well hidden from the wizarding society at large, even though she knew he still practiced constantly. He used it during assignments when it could help save lives or excess damage from happening but they didn't get partnered together all that often anymore.

"He's not subject to our laws, Tonks. And if we forced the issue all he would have to do is ask for counsel, making everything take twice as long." Harry said, getting a shrug of acceptance in return. "Okay, so we believe that New Mexico was visited by Thor Odinson by way of the Bifrost Bridge. Am I correct so far?"

"Yes."

"In Puente Antiguo, New Mexico, sometime in the last week he battled a 'robot' of some kind, destroying the town and killing an unknown number of civilians and government agents."

"Yes. I believe the term we use to describe it is 'Armor,' though robot is apt as well."

"Right, the 'Armor' was Asgardian made?"

"It was."

Harry was reaching now, trying to fit together a narrative that made sense. Four Bifrost events. Arrival of the Armor, arrival of Thor, departure of Thor. What was the fourth? He glanced at Tonks and saw her deep in thought as well. She met his eyes and gave him a nod, silently stating that she would take up the questioning.

"The.. Armor.. arrived first." she said with a questioning tone.

"No."

"Thor arrived first?" she outright asked this time.

"He did." Tonks was getting a bit frustrated with his short answers but she had dealt with much more hostile witnesses before.

"So Thor arrived, somehow the muggles knew something happened and came to investigate. The Armor came next-"

"No." Drumm stated, cutting her off.

"No? Something else came before the Armor?" she asked. When Drumm remained silent she glanced at Harry.

"Maybe other Asgardians came after him? He could have come to explore Earth when he wasn't supposed to. It wouldn't be the first time, Norse myth had to come from somewhere after all." Harry speculated.

"I am unaware of their motivations. The threat was handled before we felt it necessary to intervene so we had no opportunity to ask questions." Drumm stated. Harry got the feeling that the man wanted to be more help than he was allowed to be.

Tonks took up the narrative again. "So Thor arrives, to explore or some other reason, unknown Asgardians follow him, whether to collect him or some other reason we don't know, the Armor arrives. Perhaps to force his hand? He obviously tried to keep a low profile if he didn't end up making the news before the fight. And then hopefully Thor and any other Asgardians with him depart back to Asgard. I guess we wouldn't know if one or more remained on Earth and are keeping quiet about it."

"All entities that arrived through the Bifrost, save the Armor, returned through the Bifrost." Drumm said, once again possibly saying more than he was supposed to.

"That's a relief, I hadn't even considered them staying." Harry said. "We have an opportunity to prepare for whatever it is the Ancient One is interested in."

"I believe that is the extent of the knowledge that I am allowed to share with you. I must apologize for being unable to help you further but it is not our place to question the Ancient One."

"That's alright Daniel, I'm sure we'll know soon enough what her reasons are. I'll probably be in New York for a while so I'll come by again, we can catch up more then." Harry said and received a smile and nod from the man.

"If you leave a hair she will be able to contact you immediately upon her return." Daniel said. Harry knew that spell and he was pretty sure Daniel wasn't a fanboy hoping for a little polyjuice fun, so he complied.

"Drink?" Tonks asked hopefully.

"Drink." Harry confirmed.

(S/B)

After finding a wizarding pub run by house elves Harry and Tonks had a few drinks to unwind from their stressful day. They decided to rent a room with two beds above the pub and set up monitoring and securing charms on it. The next morning they spent at MACUSA trying to convince Viho of their findings, though the man stayed skeptical even after they left. They spent the rest of the day filling out their individual and combined reports, duplicating it to be sent back to the British Ministry along with the samples Harry had collected. If the Unspeakables could find a way to detect the energy laced within the soil, maybe they could set up their own monitoring system.

The next day they procured a map of the United States and Tonks charmed it to receive the tracking charms that she had set on the metal, now known as the Armor, from Puente Antiguo. It was traveling quickly west, along a road the map told them was the I-40, towards a city known as Flagstaff in central Arizona. Deciding that there was little they could do until it arrived wherever it was going they spent the day traveling around Manhattan, seeing the sights. The map indicated that the Armor was still traveling west the next morning and was nearing the Mojave Desert. They went their separate ways for the day because Tonks wanted to explore more of the North American magical community, something that Harry could do without. He knew people would likely recognize him and he wanted to avoid interacting with strangers all day.

Finding an empty alley void of cameras was easy enough so Harry took out his godfather's motorcycle and oriented himself north, hoping for some open road. Somehow Arthur had reproduced some of the Knight Bus' charms and he was easily able to weave through the worst of the traffic, traveling at speeds that would be dangerous without the protective enchantments on the bike. It wasn't flying, but Harry enjoyed it nearly as much. Of all the items he'd inherited it was definitely one of his favorites. He would get Arthur something extra special for his next birthday, Harry decided.

Sometime later signs told him that he was in a town called Salem Center and Harry decided to stop for lunch, only due to the familiarity of the name he figured. At a small pub that shared his name Harry was enjoying America's attempt at Fish and Chips when he noticed something strange on the telly.

There was a man with some type of energy whips battling a Gryffindor colored robot. The telly said that they were in Monaco so Harry thought there was very little he could do, having never been there, but he hoped the local Aurors stayed safe. He noticed the other customers of the bar were just as interested as him, if much less surprised. What worried him most is that the robot could very easily be described as 'Armor' and that it was leaving scorch marks everywhere, though they didn't quite match the ones from Puente Antiguo.

"What the hell is that?" Harry asked the man next to him.

"Never heard of Stark?" Harry thought the man might have actually growled at him before answering.

"No, sorry, who's Stark?"

"Brit, huh? Might explain it. Just a man with too much money and not enough sense." The man didn't seem to want to talk, but Harry's curiosity won out.

"He's human, then?" Harry nearly cringed at his blunt question. 'Best stop drinking for the day.' he thought to himself.

"What do ya mean 'human?'" the man asked suspiciously, looking at Harry for the fist time.

"Just that I've never seen technology like that is all. Seems like something out of a Sci-Fi movie." Harry replied, hoping his quick lie would do.

The man just grunted, clearly not convinced.

"What do ya reckon their spat is?" Harry asked, trying to change the subject back to the telly.

"Don't know, don't much care, bub." the man said. Harry finally glanced over and noticed the man seemed to be more interested in his drink than his surroundings, so Harry left him alone knowing well the desire for isolation. He noticed the man had hair nearly as messy as his own, though it flared out at the sides, almost winglike, unlike his own uniform mess. He had mutton chops ending well below his chin that were decidedly old-fashioned.

After finishing his food Harry rode for a while longer before storing his motorcycle back in his trunk and apparating back to Manhattan. That night Harry and Tonks noticed that the Armor finally seemed to be stationary within the Mojave Desert. They would have to get a portkey as close as possible from MACUSA in the morning so that they could continue their investigation.

(S/B)

Walking out of the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles was a strange experience for the two Brits. Most cities had their fair share of strangeness, but the concentration of it on Hollywood Boulevard was still surprising, and that was saying something when you're a wizard. It smelled vaguely of urine, which again wasn't necessarily uncommon in some cities, but the already warm air was making it much worse. Still, Harry had heard good things about California and her beaches, so he was happy to store the location for later visiting. The wizarding restaurant right across the street, Hooters, had one of the more subtle names he had seen but Harry figured it was Los Angeles' Leaky Cauldron equivalent, with its own wizarding street behind it.

They walked away from the crowds until they found a mostly empty parking garage, inside of which it was an easy task for Harry to remove his motorcycle. With Tonks on back they headed north-east for twenty minutes until they reached Angeles National Forest. Harry thought forest was a strong word, but it was still much easier to find a secluded spot to disillusion themselves and hop on their brooms. Getting high enough for their imperfect invisibility to matter little was much easier without thousands of muggles being nearby enough to spot you.

From there it was a long flight further north-east, with Harry and Tonks sometimes performing dives and loops to keep boredom at bay. Harry was a much better flier but Tonks did enjoy attempting any maneuver that Harry showed her. It was as they were passing over another mountain with a tunnel running through it that they got their first glimpse at the facility. It almost looked like a university campus to Harry, if you could ignore the military personnel, equipment, and rows of satellites. They set down a safe distance away, knowing that a facility like this would have ways of detecting them through their only minor concealment charms. Most of the wizarding world was fairly ignorant of muggle technology, but Aurors worked closely with Unspeakables to stay up to date.

After securing their location they got to information gathering. They could see a sign through their omnioculars stating that this was the Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility, which gave Harry pause. It reminded him of something the Ancient One had said to him once. 'On many worlds technology and the Mystic Arts blend together, creating something More.' The sinking feeling in his gut, that had begun when he first discovered exactly who had visited New Mexico, grew. If the muggles were beginning to discover that blend, well maybe they _were_ almost ready for contact with other realms again. The problem was that it wouldn't be a peaceful transition, it never was.

"So, how do we get in?" Tonks asked.

"Are you sure we even can?" Harry asked, wary at the presence of the militarized facility guard.

Tonks just scoffed. "I trained you, of course we can get in. Between your cloak and my being me we can get in anywhere." she said pompously.

Harry laughed at that, actually agreeing with her assessment. She had passed Concealment and Disguise like she was breathing, but failed miserably at Stealth and Tracking. Harry was almost the opposite, though he was at least proficient in his lesser focuses.

"I suppose. Alright I'll scout ahead and find you an entry point. You'll have to get us as deep in as we can get. It'll be a lot easier to follow you through the facility than constantly waiting for doors to open."

"Sounds good to me, shall we go search for our wayward alien Armor?" she asked lightly.

"Yea, perfect your disguise, I'll be back." he replied while applying the stealth package. He slipped on his Cloak and started towards the compound, making sure his tracks vanished before they could be noticed. It took him twenty minutes to reach the first buildings and already he could tell that whatever was being researched here was important. You didn't have this heavy of a security force for nothing. Still, muggles just didn't have anything that could compete with magic yet so it was easy to find a spot he could disapparate from without being noticed. There was so much noise that the nearly silent pop went unheard. He saw Tonks in another jumpsuit with the eagle logo on the shoulder and she had changed herself to a moderately attractive blonde woman. Together they returned to the spot Harry had come from and set off deeper into the facility.

Watching Tonks work was always a bit of a surprise to Harry. He suspected that it was because of her mindset as a Metamorphmagus, but her ability to blend into any crowd was something he knew he could never be capable of. If a person would respond positively to playful banter, she would have a quip lined up and ready. If a person would prefer respect and seriousness, they would receive a curt nod and short greetings. It likely incorporated a light legilimency probe but the seamless way in which she did it was nothing short of impressive.

When they were alone for the first time in an elevator Harry set a silencing charm around their heads and said "Get me to the bottom floor and then search for your tracking charms. I'm not doing anything just following you around and the basement is where everyone keeps the really dangerous stuff."

She nodded her head as if bobbing it to a beat only she could hear and pressed the button for the bottom floor. It took a surprisingly long time to get to the basement but when they did he could already tell they hit gold. It was fairly crowded with scientists talking animatedly about whatever they were researching, but it was the stairs leading down and around a dome of solid concrete that caught Harry's attention. "Good luck." he whispered to Tonks as he stepped out of the elevator.

Making his way through the crowd was easy enough as the area was mostly pillars with an obvious path through the middle, which most people stuck to. Harry kept to the edges of the room, making his way steadily to the stairs. They were narrow, so this could be a bit of a challenge. He followed a scientist as she began to descend them, praying silently to himself that she wouldn't decide to turn around. Luck was on his side and they made it to the bottom of the stairs and around the bend of the dome unimpeded. Harry slipped into the internal chamber and stuck to the walls, leaving his escort to her business.

Harry liked to consider himself something of a muggle technology expert among wizard kind. He knew what most of their technology was capable of, though that was obviously changing quickly with the Stark fellow and this very research facility. So, when he saw a glowing blue cube in the center of what looked like a focusing device Harry was pretty sure it wasn't muggle technology. In fact it was clearly mystical in nature and that caused something of a conflict for him. Really he should do what he could to remove the item from muggle possession, as was his job as an Auror. Sadly he had a feeling that such a course of action would not go over well with any of the dozens of scientists or guards in this room alone.

He could certainly disable them all easily enough. They would never even know he was there as he slipped from person to person, casting any number of disabling charms, hexes, jinxes, and curses. That wasn't even taking into account simply throwing a sling ring portal at the cube, letting it vanish from the facility with him in an instant.

As he was considering his options Harry slowly made his way to the cube, ensuring that he didn't bump anyone or leave any trace behind. When he was standing in front of it he began weaving his hands in complicated gestures, casting detection spells. He was pretty sure it was mystical, not magical, so he would start there. After a few spells he finally got to the one that had given him results in Puente Antiguo and he had to stifle a gasp. It was producing more energy, dark energy specifically, than Harry had ever felt in his life, save one time. The Eye of Agamotto gave off a similar energy level, though it was a different type.

Now Harry was absolutely terrified. He was a Master of the Mystic Arts, a trained Auror and Wizard, and he didn't dare screw around with the Eye. It just wasn't done. Using it was like a beacon to the other dimensions that said 'Hey look! I have more power than you!' That invariably led to other entities wanting that power. Even if he did steal the cube it likely wouldn't matter, the beacon was lit. He was tempted to stick it in the mirror dimension but even then, items like this had a way of getting themselves found.

"Mr. Selvig, how goes the research?" Harry was surprised to hear the voice. Mr. Monotone was here too, though that made some sense considering the Armor had arrived here as well.

"Good, Agent Coulson, she's been behaving herself for the most part. We get spikes every now and then, but my calculations are progressing steadily." one of the older scientists responded.

"Spikes? Anything dangerous?" the now dubbed Coulson asked.

"Just some low level gamma radiation, nothing dangerous."

"I wouldn't let Fury hear you say that. Let Agent Barton know if anything comes up, he'll contact us. Where is he, anyway?"

"The hawk is in his nest, as usual." Selvig said, waving a hand up towards the ceiling of the room.

Harry followed his hand and noticed a man perched on some scaffolding, his head slowly swiveling back and forth as he surveyed the room. Harry supposed that was a pretty good vantage point. With that he felt he had learned all he really could here so he made his way out of the chamber, around a bend and he was alone. The steady noise of conversations and people walking about masked the soft pop of his disapparation.

(S/B)

It took Tonks nearly an hour to return, during which time he had set up monitoring charms all around the compound. If they were going to be studying whatever that cube was he wanted to know how often it was spiking. If it spelled disaster he wanted to at least be able to come help them as quickly as possible.

When he felt Tonks apparate into their secured area he returned as well. "Find anything interesting?" he asked.

"I found the Armor, they're studying it. It seems like they're trying to make weapons out of it." she said, looking a little shell shocked.

"Weapons? That's probably good." Harry replied. She thought he should have sounded sarcastic, but he didn't.

"Good? They're making weapons out of alien technology, are you sure that's good? They were shooting some kind of blue energy, it almost looked like a spell."

"Well, I'm pretty sure I found the energy source they're using to power them." Harry said. "And if it's what I think it is, they're going to need better weapons."

"'We weren't capable of keeping up.'" she quoted. "That's what you said a few days ago, is this what you were talking about?"

"Exactly. Whatever they're doing here, it can't be stopped. They've lit the signal fire, Tonks. Any entity that watches for such things will have already seen it. Earth is telling the universe that it's ready to take its place."

"What the hell did you see in there?" she asked, looking worried.

"It's similar to an artifact the Ancient One protects. It's capable of producing unlimited energy, but more than that it's producing dark energy. Whatever the cube in there is, it could be used to transport anything, anywhere." Harry said, finally connecting the dots. He vaguely remembered reading about items that were made up of the fabric of the universe itself. He knew the Eye contained one, but he'd have to ask the Ancient One about the cube. "It also explains how they detected the Bifrost in New Mexico. If they figured out a way to track the energy the cube is putting off they would have detected it there."

"What do we even do, then? I mean, we have to tell MACUSA and Shack about this, but what can they even do?" Tonks asked.

"I need to talk to the Ancient One, and Shack. Hell, we probably need to talk to the ICW. If Earth is going to draw the attention of other realms we'll all need to be prepared."

"What are you saying? That we're going to have to fight enemies that the muggles are drawing in?"

Harry shook his head and replied "I'm saying that if it comes down to it, there will be no muggles and magicals anymore. It'll be Earth against enemies that want our resources. Witches and wizards especially are in danger"

"Whys that?" she asked.

"The Mystic Arts can be learned by anyone, or anything I guess. How far you can get is variable, but it doesn't matter if you're human or alien. But Magic, our magic, is special as far as I know." Harry wasn't certain that was true, but he had never found evidence otherwise. He would have to research it further.

"Damn, so we'll probably be the ones needing help? Not the other way around?" she asked, not looking too happy about that.

Harry just shrugged his shoulders. "I doubt the ICW can be convinced to reveal us any time soon, but if we at least put it into their heads that a time may come soon that they need to, maybe it'll be easier."

"Well I got recordings of the weapons, and with your cube we can at least let them make the decision. Lets stay in LA tonight, I need a drink and it's already midnight in New York." she said with a frustrated tenseness to her shoulders.

Harry readily agreed and opened a portal back to the Chinese Theater. They spent the night attempting to feel normal again, though Harry doubted that it would last.

**A/N** Author's notes are surprisingly easy to ramble in. Thank you anyone the read, reviewed, favorited, or followed.


	5. Chapter 5

Don't own anything Marvel, Harry Potter, or any other references you recognize.

Minor Endgame spoilers in the A/N

Chapter 5

Tonks made Head Auror and Harry couldn't be happier. When asked why he would want to avoid a promotion he would usually say something along the lines of 'Tonks is the one for the job' or 'I do my best work in the field.' And those were certainly true statements, so no one could call him a liar. But it wasn't the whole truth.

Something was coming. He had never put too much stock in divination but he had always, always trusted his instincts. And lately, they'd been screaming at him. It had been six months since the duo had returned from the States in early November and they kept busy for the first few weeks. They wrote up all their findings, submitted their evidence, and interviewed with every official that could even be peripherally involved. Every single one of them remained skeptical. Minister Shacklebolt knew better than to outright dismiss anything that Harry Potter told him but the politician in him demanded patience. It demanded physical proof, not the confirmation of a Sorcerer. It demanded inaction, in Harry's opinion at least.

The ICW did everything within their considerable power to not laugh at him. He had visited with any council that would give him an appointment, and that was most of them considering his name, but not one of them had agreed to even consider the possibility invaders may come from other realms.

It wasn't only instinct that drove him on, though. The cube was spiking in energy output more and more frequently with each passing month. Harry had visited the facility again a few times over the intervening months and each time the head scientist there, Dr. Selvig, looked worse. He obviously wasn't sleeping well, was working long hours each day, and was skipping meals. All in an attempt to finish his 'calculations.' What drove a person to work themselves to the bone like that, Harry didn't know.

Worse yet, the Ancient One had yet to contact him. Harry took this as proof that threats were increasing in occurrence, if not in danger. The three Sanctum Masters assured Harry that they had everything under control, but he still checked in every few weeks to make sure. Sometimes he would lend a hand if he happened to be there when something happened, but they were the Masters of their Sanctums for a reason.

Eventually, though, Harry fell back into a routine. When Teddy was home for the hols Harry would keep his assignments short and in country. The rest of the time he would take every opportunity he could to travel the world, doing what he loved. Helping people, keeping them safe. That's what really drove him.

At the same time he kept an eye on the muggle world. He knew they would be involved now, whether the Wizarding World wanted them to be or not. Since the time of Agamotto and Merlin it had been the Masters of the Mystic Arts versus inter-dimensional threats while witches and wizards contained threats on Earth. Various wars with goblins, trolls, giants, and even dragons had come and gone, all the while muggles mostly fought amongst themselves.

But that was changing. Stark and his technology were just the most obvious example. For the first time in history Harry thought a muggle would be a safe bet against the average witch or wizard. He sometimes wanted to find the man just to make sure he wasn't a wizard posing as a muggle. The capabilities of his suits certainly seemed to require magic. The man was reportedly building a new tower in New York.

A green, troll-like creature had destroyed a part of Manhattan but when Harry asked Viho the man told him it wasn't magical. It was created by science. It seemed the blend was happening faster and faster with each passing month, and that worried Harry.

A little town called Salem Center apparently played host to even more people with special powers. They were just rumors, but apparently a man with claws had been seen battling a beast-man of some sort. And that was just the most popular rumor of the enhanced individuals there. Harry of course recognized the town, how could you forget a pub that had your name on it? The problem was that it was in New York, and Harry was not blind to the pattern.

If the Wizarding World wasn't going to be prepared, he would be. He felt bad about the conversation that was inevitable with Tonks, but he was set on a path that he felt was right.

(S/B)

"Hey Harry. How as Romania?" Tonks asked as he took a seat in her office.

"Great, Charlie says 'Hi' by the way." he replied.

"Does he now? That's so sweet of him" she said while fluttering her eyelashes.

"Down girl." Harry laughed. "He's married now, you know?"

"What? But he's the only one I can flirt with at the Weasley gatherings. How could he do this to me?" Tonks asked with an exaggerated frown on her face.

"Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it was a small ceremony. He and Norberta got hitched a few months back." Harry said with a straight face. "You two would make a cute couple though, I bet he wouldn't even ask for your 'natural' form. A tail and wings, maybe, but not the 'real' Tonks."

"Oh, so our love lives are free-game again?" she retorted. "You know, I hear the younger Delacour is single again."

"Ok, ok, mercy" he said, laughing again with his hands up in surrender.

"So, to what do I owe the pleasure, Auror Potter? It's so rare to have you actually report in when you get back from over-seas."

"Living with the Head Auror has to have some privileges, right?" he asked.

"Yes, I suppose you really do need to move out."

"It's my house!" he exclaimed in indignation.

"You invited us to live there, you can't exactly kick us out, can you?" she asked flippantly.

"Ah, well, you may be right." Harry said, losing the humorous tone they'd been using.

"What? I was kidding, Harry. Teddy and I love living with you." she said worriedly.

"Just.. Take a look at this." he said while removing a folder from his inner coat pocket and handing it to her.

She spent a few minutes flipping through it, reviewing the news articles and notes Harry had made. Every page she turned caused her frown to grow.

"I don't understand what this has to do with our living situation." Tonks said after the last page.

"Something is happening, Tonks. For some reason these strange events are increasing in frequency, and it all seems to be centered in New York." Harry said quietly.

"Is this about New Mexico again? Harry, you know that could have just been a coincidence." she retorted, almost exasperated. "Half a year with no new events. And we've been distributing the detection charms the Unspeakables came up with, so we'd know if it happened again. What could you moving to New York accomplish?"

"I don't know, ok?" he responded shortly. "It's.. It's just a feeling I have. Between the spikes the cube is making, the increasing frequency of muggles with strange powers and abilities, and the Ancient One being busy all the time with threats, I just know something is going to happen soon. It's all going to come to a head and I don't feel ready for it."

"You can't expect me to be the Head Auror that let Harry Potter go within her first year on the job, that's not fair." she said seriously.

It took Harry everything he had not to groan and flop back in his chair like a school-child. "Not you too." he said with a sigh instead, causing Tonks to frown. "First, stop playing politics and trust your best Auror. And second, you're not letting me go. You'll be assigning me to New York to keep an eye on the strange activities of the muggles to make sure a rogue magical isn't involved. You know MACUSA will jump on any chance to get me there, so there'll be no roadblocks on that end."

Tonks stayed silent for a few minutes, contemplating what he'd said. Harry took that as a good sign. She would consider every angle to make sure the right thing happened and for that reason alone Harry was happy she got the promotion.

"It's a weak excuse, but fine. Everything has been quiet on this side of the pond anyway." she said while still in thought. "Even if people think it's a cushy assignment for a paid vacation, they can't exactly complain with all that you've been doing."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." he said with a smile.

She scowled at him and said, "You get to tell Shack. And your friends. And Teddy."

"You act like I'm going to some distant planet." Harry retorted while laughing.

(S/B)

Harry spent the next few weeks getting settled in New York City. President Quahog had been absolutely thrilled. When Harry had tried to explain why he was there he was just waved off as if it wasn't important, they were just happy that he was staying indefinitely. Viho at least seemed pleased to have another skilled Auror nearby, not a political victory of some sort.

He had a small flat in Greenwich Village that put him in between the Sanctum and the new Stark Tower that seemed to gain floors every day. The flat was plenty nice on the inside even if it was an older building, thanks to judicious use of charms and transfigurations.

With wizarding and mystical travel moving to Manhattan wasn't strictly necessary, but any good beat cop would tell you living in a place was essential to knowing the flow of a city. At night Harry would stalk through the streets, getting a feel for this new city he found himself living in. Already he could tell his research into the strange events had been only scratching the surface.

An invincible man in Harlem, a PI that could lift cars, the Devil of Hell's Kitchen. Every pub, every coffee shop, and every street corner that Harry visited had its own favorite tale. He followed the leads back to their sources and found no evidence of magical influence, just muggles with powers that they never had before using them to help people.

MACUSA was content with the knowledge that there was no magic involved. Why should they concern themselves with no-majs fighting other no-majs, powers or not? Daniel Drumm couldn't leave his Sanctum unguarded lest something even worse happen. That left Harry.

Everywhere he went he also noticed the same government agents from Puente Antiguo keeping tabs on the city, just as he was. S.H.I.E.L.D, they called themselves. It seemed even muggles loved their acronyms. So far they appeared to be content to only observe, but it signaled to Harry that even they noticed the worrying trend. He was thankful his magic could keep him hidden from the intelligence agency. Working for the Ministry for nearly a decade hadn't tempered his distrust of bureaucracies overmuch, and sometimes worsened it.

It came with much relief to Harry that he was finally contacted by the Ancient One, a portal of eldritch energy opening in his bedroom that he did not conjure. He unhesitatingly walked through it into the courtyard of Kamar-Taj, where she was waiting.

(S/B)

Harry bowed deeply to his old mentor before speaking. "I've been waiting to speak with you, are the threats becoming so great that you've been occupied this whole time?"

"I admit I have been busier than usual, though I know that comes as no surprise. You too have seen the signs. Earth has announced that it is ready to take its place within the universe, whether they knew they were doing it or not." the Ancient One stated in her usual cadence, as if she was deeply curious while also knowing exactly how the conversation was going to go.

"The cube." Harry said abruptly. "Do you know what it is? It's similar to the Eye, isn't it?"

"It is." she confirmed while conjuring an illusion of six colored stones as they walked. "The cube contains one of the six Infinity Stones, each embodying an essential aspect of existence. Mind, power, reality, soul, space, and time." she listed, the corresponding stone flashing as she did so. "It is easy to guess which ones you have interacted with, I'm sure. Tea?" she asked as they sat down in one of the open-air rooms overlooking the training students below.

"Please." Harry said with a nod before continuing, "The Eye contains the time stone, obviously, considering all the books on it deal with manipulating time. The cube.. produces dark energy which is used to travel.. Through space. The space stone?" he asked and received a nod. "Though I think 'interact' is a strong word."

"Yes, you have grown to be much less impulsive than you were when you first came here." she responded with a slight smile. "If only everyone knew better than to meddle with things they don't understand."

"Do you think I should have confiscated the cube, then? It would be incredibly easy to do so."

"No, I'm afraid it's too late for that. In fact, it was too late for that in 1942." the Ancient One said with a frown. "If you were to remove it you would just put wherever you store it in danger. Leaving it where it is will lead to the least destructive outcome, though I doubt you will believe me afterwards."

"Couldn't you protect it?" Harry asked while deep in thought. "Or send it to another world?"

"Sending it elsewhere would only accelerate the plans of those that would use it for malicious purposes. As to protecting it, I could, for a while. Sadly my time here is growing to a close. Already I am searching for my successor." she said evenly.

"What? You're dying?" he asked in surprise, forgetting the rest of the conversation for a moment.

"We all die, eventually. I have borrowed many years, at great cost, while searching for the one capable of being the best of us. I believe I have found him, though he is not yet ready."

"So why haven't we done anything?" Harry asked, forcing himself back to the point. "If you've known about the cube since the forties why didn't you contain it then?"

"You think me omniscient?" she asked with a chuckle. "I admit I am nearly as close as a human may come to it, but I am human. I didn't know what the cube was until it resurfaced very recently, and only then did I retrospectively understand what was happening during World War II. And yet I may not have done anything even if I had known. Humanity needs to stand alone. The old protectors, myself only being one of them, are ready to leave this life. Soon the time will come that the next generation needs to prove itself to be greater even than we could be."

"Well that's ominous." Harry said dryly. "Am I right, then? Something is coming? That's why I moved to New York, to keep an eye on things. I get the feeling that all the new, strange people with abilities are a precursor to something." he continued, a strange mix of eager and hesitant.

"There are those that would count you among those new, strange people as you put it." the Ancient One said humorously. "Are you an Auror protecting wizarding interests? Are you a Master of the Mystic Arts protecting this realm from inter-dimensional threats? Are you hoping to protect 'muggles' from their own mistakes?" she asked, once more in her apparent all-knowing curiosity.

"You know how I feel about those distinctions." Harry said dismissively.

"I do, don't I?" she asked. "And yet when have you ever used your wand while here? How often have you used Astral Projection during one of your investigations, when it could expedite your job tremendously? Did you ever wonder why I accepted you as my apprentice?"

"To be honest, at that point in my life I was just kinda going with it." he said with a shrug, though he noticed that he was 'just going with' her non-sequitur. Years of conversations with Dumbledore taught him to accept a lesson when he received it, and as he thought about it he knew she was right. Even if he believed the distinction between Master and Wizard was unimportant, he still subconsciously separated the two. "I have thought about it since then, but something else always steals my attention."

"Yes, you used to be quite the passive observer of your own life." she agreed. "So why then, would I choose you to be one of the few I trained personally?"

"Not to be your successor, surely. I told you I still had a duty to the Wizarding World, to my family. I left Kamar-Taj." Harry said with apprehension.

"Did you really? Most students that find what they were looking for and then leave here invariably never return. And yet, you have never gone more than two months without visiting one of the Sanctums or Kamar-Taj itself. It's curious, isn't it? But no, not to be my successor. I know you would never, could never leave your family behind. And I wouldn't ask it of you, it is too rare for those like us to have loved ones as you do."

"So why did you train me then?"

"In all my viewings of my possible futures, not once did you appear." she said steadily.

"I don't understand what that has to do with it." Harry said, confused.

"You came here, still nearly a child, having already fulfilled your destiny. You had already faced your greatest demons, rose above them, and lived. But still, you were broken. Your spirit was in pieces, I could barely believe you were alive at all. That I never saw you coming possibly means that you were not meant to. Or, and I believe this to be more likely, you were, and are, truly free like so very few of us ever can be."

Harry thought back to the time he'd first arrived in Kathmandu. It was some eight months after Riddle's defeat and he remembered feeling directionless. He remembered feeling injured in a way he couldn't describe. But no Healer could find anything wrong with him. One of the elder healers told him a rumor of those with even deeper knowledge than their own, so he'd sought them out. Harry was broken from his memories when the Ancient One refilled his tea and continued speaking.

"Most students come here wanting to be healed for one reason or another. Do you remember what your reason was?" she asked curiously, as if she didn't remember herself.

"I.. I just wanted to be there for my family.. my friends. But I felt like I was living the life of someone else. I was supposed to die, wasn't I?" he asked quietly.

"No, no, I don't believe it is possible for someone to survive when they are not meant to. But that does not mean surviving is always the most pleasant experience."

Harry nodded at that. He'd been surviving for most of his life, he knew exactly how much it could hurt.

"But your spirit was quite broken," she continued, "which could easily explain your discomfort with your life. You are one of the very few that did not come here with physical injuries hoping to regain your normal life. You just wanted a chance to live at all, it was very refreshing." she finished with a smile for him.

Suddenly a puff of smoke escaped from inside Harry's trench coat. He removed the now destroyed device that he'd charmed to keep track of the SHIELD facility in the Mojave Desert. It was completely burnt out. "Oh no, that can't be good. I have to go, I'm sorry I have to cut our conversation short, Ancient One." he said while standing and bowing once again.

"I believe we have said what we needed to." the Ancient One said, maintaining her smile.

Harry put on his sling ring, but before conjuring a portal he had to ask, "So there's nothing you can do to help with.. whatever.. is coming?"

She lost her smile for only a moment and replied, "Unfortunately if my absence was noticed it could lead to much greater destruction. But do you not understand yet? We accepted you here at Kamar-Taj because you needed healing, as do most of our students. I accepted you as my personal apprentice because of who you are, and what you are capable of being. You came here a man with an already completed destiny, and yet you wanted to do so much more. I never saw you in my own future, meaning your presence here is not necessary for the Masters to defend this dimension. You are able to help with what is coming when we cannot." she finished, regaining her earnest smile, hoping that he understood.

Harry only needed to think about it for a moment before he gave her a nod. He conjured a portal to the Mojave Desert and looked at her one last time. "Thank you." he said before stepping through.

"No, thank you." the Ancient One said as the portal disappeared.

(S/B)

It was gone. The Joint Dark Energy Mission Facility was now a crater. Reflecting on his conversation with the Ancient One Harry realized he never had a chance to ask most of the questions he had for her, and yet none of them would have really mattered. He would one day learn how his elders always steered conversations the way they wanted them to go, but that was unimportant now.

Taking one of the lessons she had just imparted to heart, Harry got to work securing his position with the standard 'wards,' as they were sometimes unofficially named, to keep himself safe while he was out of body. Once that was done he threw the Cloak over himself and sat down cross-legged. It took a moment of concentration before his spirit entered the Astral Dimension, leaving his physical body behind.

Besides the obvious crater he immediately noticed a helicopter crashed near the road leading out of the compound. He quickly floated over to a man with an eye-patch and trench coat nearby and was relieved to see that everyone there at least seemed to be alive.

"-of right now, we are at war." the man said as Harry got close enough to overhear. The man helped the pilot out of the helicopter before beginning his trek back to the buried facility.

Harry hastily made his way back to his own body after the second most ominous sentence he'd heard that day before floating straight into the rubble, searching for survivors. There weren't many, but he would save those he could. He returned to his physical body and set to work, slowly transfiguring the rubble into archways and vanishing large patches of it. When he came upon survivors he would confound them and put them to sleep. He didn't enjoy messing with the minds of innocents but between that and not helping at all, he would deal with the guilt.

Over the next two hours Harry saved as many as he could, healing any fatal injuries as he went, but it was only a small portion in comparison to the amount of bodies he found. He had dealt with death his whole life, especially since becoming an Auror as it was just part of the job, but the scale of loss he was seeing here made him nearly sick to his stomach. By the time he was nearing the other side of the facility, where the agents were already beginning the process of digging out their allies, he was ready to find a bottle of Firewhisky and attempt to forget this whole night. If that didn't work maybe he would resort to a self-Obliviation.

He knew he couldn't hide his intervention here but he wasn't in the frame of mind to deal with the consequences of his actions. As an intelligence agency they would no doubt ask questions, but none of the people he'd saved would be able to describe him or the way in which he had saved them. Maybe someday soon he could reveal himself, but not today. He knew he wasn't mentally sound enough to do it at the moment. He steadily reversed his transfigurations before applying the stealth package fully to himself and setting off to find whoever was in charge of cleanup.

(S/B)

On the other side of the crater Harry found an agent he recognized, Agent Coulson, speaking with an attractive brunette woman in one of the standard jumpsuits. They were overseeing the rescue efforts with grim looks on their faces. He made his way to them as quickly as he could while remaining hidden beneath the Cloak.

"-ding back to the Helicarrier with Director Fury. You'll join us there when you're done here." Coulson was saying.

"What then?" the woman asked.

"I'll call Natasha in, she'll want to know about Barton. She'll be sent to retrieve Dr. Banner while I 'consult' Stark." he replied in a weak attempt at humor.

"This is it, then? The Avengers Initiative is activated?"

"I don't see what other play we have. Loki has the Tesseract, Agent Barton, and Dr. Selvig. With Phase Two incom-"

"Sir! Ma'am! You need to come see this!" another agent yelled as he ran to them.

"What is it, agent?" Couslon asked, unperturbed by the interruption.

"We weren't finding anybody, survivors or not, so we decided to try another angle." the agent said as they started to walk in the direction Harry had come from. He was a little annoyed that he was going to have to witness the fallout to his actions but he needed to know what, or where, this 'helicarrier' was. Harry hoped to receive permission to make contact with S.H.I.E.L.D himself if the ICW was insistent that they don't get involved. He could just set a tracking charm on Coulson but it could be days before the man got there.

"And?" the female agent asked.

"Ma'am.. We.. We found them."

"Who?" Coulson asked.

"Everyone, Sir."

(S/B)

Harry stuck around for another hour, only learning that whatever the 'helicarrier' was it was positioned somewhere off the eastern seaboard of the United States. He set a tracking charm on Coulson and then beat a hasty retreat as at that point the agents seemed to be fixated on how all their people, dead and alive, were secure outside the rubble. The speculation was a little interesting to listen to, though. Everything from a miracle to aliens was mentioned, but somehow wizards never came up.

Now Harry sat in Kingsley Shacklebolt's office, staring at the man dumbfounded. He had made his way directly there, forgoing the sleep that he desperately needed, and attempted to explain the situation to him. Tonks had entered the office just a few moments ago and couldn't believe that New Mexico seemingly happened again.

"I said no." Kingsley said in his baritone voice.

"But sir, they know what's going on better than we do at this point. I'm tired of playing catch-up." Harry said through nearly clenched teeth.

"If you reveal yourself to an agent of an intelligence agency there will be no coming back from that. I cannot, as Minister for Magic, authorize one of my Aurors to do that."

"I resign." Harry said suddenly. Even he was a little surprised by it, but it felt right.

"What?" Tonks asked, staring at him wide-eyed.

"I accept." Kingsley said while he stood and stuck his hand out. "It's been a pleasure, Mr. Potter."

Harry stood and numbly shook the man's hand. He'd been expecting a fight on that.

"Now just hold on!" Tonks almost yelled.

"Head Auror Tonks, you are dismissed. Thank you for coming." the Minister said.

"Sir-"

"I said you are dismissed." Kingsley watched her passively as she clenched her teeth before she gave a curt nod and turned to the door. Just before she reached it he spoke again. "Tonks, have you had breakfast yet?"

She turned, her hand still outstretched from where she had been reaching for the door nob, and shook her head confusedly.

"How about we go to your house, get something to eat. Harry here can cook for us. Please, use my private floo, it's unmonitored." he said as he waved his hand to the fireplace.

The two of them followed Kingsley through the floo to Grimmauld Place in a daze. Only the Minister at that point seemed to know what he was doing, even though Harry knew he had somehow set the events off. When he asked what Kingsley wanted to eat he felt his eye twitch when the man said, "Just tea, please, I'm not hungry." A few flicks of Harry's wand and they were seated around the kitchen table with steaming mugs of tea.

"You need to be smart about this, Harry." Kingsley started without preamble. "I can't authorize an Auror to make contact with this agency, and if I did we'd both be out of a job. The Ministry can't handle losing both of us, especially not if you're right about this."

"So you're not going to try to stop me?" Harry asked in slight surprise.

"I still think you shouldn't, but I can't order you not to anymore, can I?" the other man asked with a smile. "And I trust your instincts. So whether you're right or wrong, I'll be able to help you more if I keep my job."

"What do you propose, sir?"

"If you're right about this agency, S.H.I.E.L.D, then it's only a matter of time until they notice us anyway. We've been able to stay hidden for so long mostly thanks to the muggle's own desire to not notice anything strange happening around them. I doubt that an intelligence agency that's keeping track of everything in this file," Kingsley said while producing the file Harry had given to Tonks those few weeks ago, "will accept the things the Muggle-Worthy Excuse Committee comes up with."

"So?" Tonks asked.

"So, we already liaise with the muggle Prime Minister. MACUSA with the muggle President. Every country does it at this point. A muggle intelligence agency specializing in the unexplained seems like it could use its own liaison. You and I," he said looking at Tonks, "try to pass a bill giving the Head Auror the authority to appoint that liaison. Until then, though, you're on your own." he said looking at Harry again.

"Right, that's actually a really good plan.." Harry said while thinking about it. He really wished he had come up with it. He'd just been planning to break the law whenever necessary.

"Thank you." Kingsley replied dryly. "Just don't get caught until then."

**A/N:** Wow, this was definitely the hardest chapter for me to write yet. Tilda Swinton absolutely killed it as the Ancient One and I don't think I did her even a bit of justice, but there you go. It bugged me a little that we saw her fighting during the Battle of New York but she wasn't doing much besides just defending the Sanctum, so here I am rationalizing that.

Oh well, we're officially into The Avengers, exciting times.

Harry + Mjolnir = just way too much for one character to do. Will he be able to pick it up? I haven't decided, but it does seem a touch cliché for him to be able to. But at the same time Harry sacrificed himself to defeat Riddle, Thor sacrificed himself to stop the Destroyer Armor, there are definitely parallels.

Thank you to everyone that read, reviewed, favorited, or followed. It really does help keep me writing.


	6. Chapter 6

Don't own anything Marvel, Harry Potter, or any other references you recognize.

Chapter 6

Harry laid in his bed at Grimmauld Place, staring blankly at the ceiling. He had fallen into bed face down shortly after Tonks and Kingsley had gone back to the Ministry and slept for nearly nine hours, much longer than he normally did. It was now just past six in the evening London time and he didn't particularly want to get out of bed. His mind felt sluggish, fried even. He hadn't fully processed the last twelve hours of his conscious life and he felt too numb to even start, but he knew he had to.

His depressed state could easily be attributed to the traveling he'd done. Going from New York to Kathmandu to California to London could throw anybody off. The time differences alone would cause 'jet-lag' as the muggles called it.

It could be because he was now unemployed. He nearly snorted at the thought. Shortly after being praised for being less impulsive, by the epitome of patience herself, he had made the least thought-out decision of the last decade of his life. Harry knew he could very easily walk into the Ministry and get his job back, the paper work to process his resignation probably hadn't even been started yet. But that didn't particularly appeal to him. He was too tied down as an Auror. He highly doubted the 'Iron Man' answered to anybody, and look what he could accomplish.

He certainly didn't need the income. Ten years as an Auror with little to no expenses had added nicely to the inheritance left to him by two old families. The hazard pay alone, from always taking the most dangerous assignments, would let him live comfortably for the foreseeable future. Tonks very rarely let him pay for anything Teddy needed, even though he took every opportunity to do so when she wasn't looking. One of his largest expenses had been outfitting Grimmauld Place for muggle technology, which he had done as a tribute to Sirius more than anything, and it hadn't even been a month of his salary. His biggest hobby was traveling the world, which he mostly did as an Auror. The per diem was.. generous. The flat in New York barely even deserved a second thought.

But he knew his current state wasn't really due to any of those reasons.

The numbness he felt stemmed from what he'd witnessed in the Mojave Desert. Numbness quickly gave way to guilt. No matter what the Ancient One said, it was his call to leave the cube with the muggles. He may not believe very much in wizarding divination and its definite prophecies, but he knew there were ways for the Sorceress Supreme to gaze into possible futures. He couldn't really think of a way it could have turned out worse, even if he did trust her.

He felt like a child-soldier all over again, watching as his friends and loved ones sacrificed themselves for him, so that he could have even a chance to defeat Riddle once and for all.

He was backsliding.

Hard.

Harry sat up abruptly at that thought. He was an adult now, he would take responsibility for his actions, his decisions. He was no longer that helpless child that grew up in a cupboard, stumbling from one mess to another, never knowing if he would see his next year at Hogwarts.

With an outstretched hand he summoned his coat from where it lay in the doorjamb and removed his shrunken trunk from the inner pocket. A tap of his finger returned it to normal size, lying across his lap. He summoned the map of the States from within, laid it out flat on the once again closed trunk, and charmed it to receive the tracking charm he'd put on Agent Coulson.

The man was his only chance. He could spend some time searching for the helicarrier but showing up on the doorstep of a spy agency didn't seem like a way to make a good first impression. More importantly, the agent seemed absolutely unflappable. Harry admittedly had only seen the man a few times, but not once had he seen the agent surprised. Not once had Harry heard Coulson raise his voice. If there was anyone that would give Harry an opportunity to explain himself, it had to be Mr. Monotone.

Agent Coulson apparently had access to means of transportation much faster than Harry would have thought, because the man was already a hundred miles off the eastern coast of the United States. But he was moving quickly back towards land.

Straight to New York.

Harry knew he likely only had one shot at this, but he'd always been good under pressure.

(S/B)

After portaling to his New York flat Harry quickly made his way to one of the many tech-shops that dotted most major cities. Someone wearing a well-tailored three-piece suit and overcoat while walking with authority could get most things done with minimal fuss, but he didn't know that buying a prepaid mobile-phone with cash was an easy task for anyone these days. Said mobile was a generic flip-phone with none of the bells and whistles, and that was about the extent of his knowledge on wireless anonymity. He knew very well how to counter muggle technology with magic, not how to counter it with the technology itself.

He wrote the number of the phone on a scrap of parchment before ducking into a nearby alley to check the map. Coulson was nearing New York and would likely arrive in the next hour or two. He knew at least one place the agent was sure to visit, and it would be an easy thing to intercept him there.

Harry made sure he wasn't in the view of any cameras before transfiguring a nearby cola bottle into a replica of his animagus form. Together the two took to the skies and made their way to the new Stark Tower, which was looking complete.

Sitting on the roof of a cafe across the street for a few hours was boring, but Harry had been on much longer stakeouts. He came up with a workable plan to get the agent alone during that time, but it would be a lot easier if the man didn't have backup. Every once in a while Harry would fly down to an alley to check the map and the last time he did, after the sun had fallen, Coulson was rapidly approaching Midtown.

Suddenly Stark Tower lit up as if someone had just turned on all the lights. Iron Man rocketed past, up to the landing platform on the side of the tower and entered. It was enough of a distraction that as Harry looked back to the entrance of the tower he saw Agent Coulson slip through the front door.

Mentally cursing himself, Harry took to the air and flew up to where Iron Man had just entered the tower. He and his raven companion perched on the railing outside the glass walls and watched as Tony Stark and a woman Harry recognized as Pepper Potts celebrated something with champagne, likely the completion of the tower. The inside of the tower was like nothing Harry had ever seen before, the technology present looked like it came straight out of the science fiction movies he and Teddy loved watching together.

An elevator opened and Agent Coulson walked in. Stark looked annoyed at the intrusion but Potts at least seemed happy to see him. After a shuffle of items Stark was walking over to a desk with a tablet. He swept his hands out and the room in front of him was filled with holographic displays, all showing different videos of things Harry himself had been investigating. A video of the green troll throwing vehicles like they were toys; a black and white video of a soldier with a shield that Harry didn't recognize. The last one, however, made him pause.

The Armor, with a great beam of energy shooting from its face destroying everything in its path. A blonde man's picture was attached to the file. Thor. It jolted a memory of what Coulson said only a day ago.

'Loki has the cube, the Tesseract as Coulson called it. Why would Asgard want the cube when they have the Bifrost Bridge? Not the cube, the stone.' Harry thought to himself. The thought made his insides churn. You didn't go looking for powerful artifacts unless you intended to use them.

Harry saw Agent Coulson and Potts walk into the elevator together. The last thing he saw before diving back down to ground-level was a holographic picture of the cube, resting in Tony Stark's hand.

(S/B)

The lobby of the tower was surprisingly generic. Security check points, waiting areas, and at the back a hallway filled with elevators. The hallway only had a single camera, and the rest of the lobby was empty. It was a simple thing to disrupt the camera from underneath the Cloak, and then a silencing spell around his immediate vicinity would ensure they weren't overheard. He removed the Cloak but left his disillusionment charm up for now.

Harry prepared a spell that was almost like a combination of a body-bind and a stunning spell, but it was actually of the Mystic Arts. It would essentially freeze a person until released and they wouldn't even know it had happened.

One of the elevators opened and out walked Agent Coulson and his traveling companion.

"-t why Portland?" she was asking. Harry hit her with the spell. He was now on the clock.

"An orchestra there had an opening, I guess." Coulson replied, but he noticed that she had stopped moving. "Miss Potts?"

From behind the man Harry released his disillusionment and readied his wand.

"Agent Coulson." Harry hit the man with a body-bind when he immediately went for his side-arm. "Please, I just want to talk. I'm going to release you now, I know you can be reasonable."

Harry released the body-bind and Coulson stayed tense for a moment, before slowly relaxing his posture. He finished turning around at a controlled pace, obviously attempting to show compliance.

"What did you do to her?" the agent asked in his even voice.

"She's fine, we just needed to talk in private." Harry replied in his own placating tone.

"Then talk. I've had a rough week and people sneaking up and attacking my friends is getting kinda old."

Harry's heart hurt a little at that. "I know.. I'm sorry. But that's why I'm here. I need help finding Loki." Harry thought he might have seen Coulson's eyes narrow at that, but it passed before he could tell for sure. "I need help correcting my mistakes."

"Are you the one that activated the Tesseract?" Coulson prodded. The agent could obviously already recognize that Harry knew much more than he should.

"You mean the cube, right?" Harry asked and received a nod. "No, I didn't activate it. But it was my call to leave it with your agency. I did what I could to help, but.." he trailed off and shook his head, staring at Coulson's feet.

"It was you that saved all those people?" Coulson asked, and Harry looked up at him. The agent looked much more relaxed, a subtle lowering of his shoulders and un-furrowing of his brow giving him away.

"I saved as many as I could, but it wasn't enough." Harry replied.

"Tell that to the ones you did save." Coulson retorted. "People thought we had a guardian angel."

Harry had to smile a little at that. "My personal favorite was a woman that could walk through walls. Oddly specific." he said with a chuckle.

"What are you, then?" the agent asked, refocusing the conversation. "And how long have you been watching us?"

"What I am is.. complicated. And unimportant. Your agency has been tracking individuals with gifts for a while now, assume I'm one of those." Harry said, hoping the Ancient One was right. "I've been with you since Puente Antiguo, though, and that's why I need your help. You were there, you know what Asgard's motivations are better than I can."

"Asgard? What do you have against them?"

Harry was a little surprised at the question. "Thor shows up and levels a town? Loki shows up and buries an entire facility? What _don't_ you have against them?"

Agent Coulson shook his head and replied, "They were both Loki acting alone. He sent the Destroyer Armor to kill Thor to usurp the crown of Asgard. Seems to be intent on conquering us this time instead. You think you can help?"

"I can, and I have to. I should have removed the cube.. the Tesseract, from your possession. You didn't know what you were playing with."

"It was our decision to study it." Coulson replied firmly. Harry just shrugged slightly, he wasn't here to assign guilt. "I'm on my way to pick up another.. recruit, for a team capable of stopping Loki. If you really want to help I think I can convince my Director to let you on board, the Mojave was a good audition."

Harry shook his head. He had to limit his exposure until Kingsley could follow up on his side of the plan. "No, only you can know about me. No files, no telling your superiors, nothing. For now, at least."

"Why me?" Coulson asked.

Harry smirked a little and said, "I nicknamed you when I first saw you." Coulson just cocked an eyebrow, his biggest facial expression yet. "Mr. Monotone, I called you. You attempting to draw your gun on me is the most I think I've seen you react."

Coulson gave a small smile. "It comes with the territory. If you're not coming with me how will I contact you?" he asked.

"If there's an emergency, or if you find Loki, call this number." Harry replied as he held out the scrap of parchment. As Coulson looked down he tapped the back of his leg with his wand, casting a weak muggle-repelling charm on himself. He followed it up quickly with a silent disillusionment charm and stepped away so his back was against the wall.

"Is this parchment?" Coulson asked as he looked down at it.

"Is what parchment?" Pepper Potts asked. "Phil?"

Agent Coulson looked up and his head swiveled around the room, searching for Harry. He shook his head and pocketed the parchment before replying, "Nothing, sorry, what were we talking about?"

Harry watched the pair as they exited the building, silently hoping to himself that he could trust Phil Coulson, that he made the right decision. He also couldn't help but smile, he'd always wanted to do that to someone.

(S/B)

Harry spent the next day at MACUSA attempting to convince Viho that he needed to be prepared for the worst. The Chief Auror remained skeptical but he did end up promising Harry that he would have all available Aurors and other law enforcement witches and wizards on alert for the next week. Tonks promised the same thing with no convincing needed, she too felt a little responsible for what happened in the Mojave. It was less than he was hoping for but more than he'd been expecting.

The days following that Harry visited with Daniel Drumm at the New York Sanctum. There was a difference between knowing the Mystic Arts and using them instinctively as he did his magic, so they spent some time sparring in the Mirror Dimension. The rest of the time Harry spent in the Sanctum's library, refreshing his memory and making sure he'd be ready to subdue Loki if the need arrived.

One afternoon they were interrupted when Sol Rama came out of the portal room. He was an older Caucasian man with graying, curly hair and a full beard.

"Thor has arrived on Earth, outside Stuttgart. He has Loki in custody. We are to be on alert." Sol said.

"He captured Loki? Are they with S.H.I.E.L.D?" Harry asked.

"They are, but the cube is not with them." he replied.

Harry checked his mobile and saw that he hadn't been contacted. "They must think Thor can contain him, but obviously Loki has a plan if he doesn't have the Tesseract with him." he said with a frown.

"Unless you wish to reveal yourself fully to them there is little we can do now but wait." Daniel Drumm said.

"If anyone can handle Loki it's his own brother, right?" Harry asked with trepidation.

(S/B)

It was early in the morning the next day and Harry was pacing around his flat. He couldn't understand why Agent Coulson hadn't contacted him, but then again he hadn't given the man much understanding of his abilities. Should he have let on that he was a lot more capable than just what he'd shown? Even if he had the man didn't exactly have many reasons to trust Harry.

Checking the map he saw that Coulson was on land, a few miles off the coast of Rhode Island heading towards the water. If he apparated to Salem Center and headed east on his broom he could get there in less than forty-five minutes. Deciding that he wasn't accomplishing anything pacing in his room he set off.

Half an hour into his flight he finally got a call. He stopped in midair and answered.

"Hey Cou-"

"Is this line secure?" a voice much deeper than he'd been expecting asked.

"I don't know how to secure a line, so I'm going to go with no. Who am I speaking to?" Harry asked in return.

"You can call me Director."

"Right, I'd asked Mr. Monotone not to inform you of me. Why'd he give you this number?" Harry asked, not knowing whether to feel annoyed or worried.

He thought he might have heard a soft snort before the voice replied, "I was hoping you could tell me that."

"What do you.." Harry trailed off as his stomach dropped.

"He used his last breath to hand me this parchment and told me to 'Trust him.' Now why would he do that?" the voice asked in accusation.

"I told him I could help with.. the one responsible for the Mojave. Why didn't he call me when you found him?" Harry asked.

"We thought we could contain him, obviously we were wrong." the Director replied. "Are you capable of what you claim?"

As the man was speaking Harry noticed something tumbling through the air. It looked like a large container of some sort. Suddenly something- someone, he amended, broke out of it and flew away from it. The man couldn't gain altitude quickly enough and slammed into the ground, a large hammer landing a few yards away from him. 'Thor.' Harry thought to himself.

Finally he replied to the director while he shot off towards the fallen god. "I am. Where?"

"Manhattan. Can you get there?"

"I'll be there." Harry said as he hung up the phone.

(S/B)

Harry landed near the hammer and stowed his now shrunken broom in one of his pockets. Thor looked to be unconscious but was already stirring. The fact that he survived that fall was a credit to his apparent godhood.

Harry reached down and wrapped a hand around the hilt of the hammer. As he did so he felt something he hadn't experienced since he was eleven years old standing in Ollivanders Wand Shop. Warmth spread through him, and as he picked the hammer up bright gold and red sparks began dancing off of it. It was a magical focus, he realized, and a powerful one at that. It felt good in his hand, but it wasn't loyal to him like a properly matched, or earned, wand could be.

He walked the few yards to Thor as the man's eyes opened. They widened almost comically when the man noticed the hammer in Harry's hand.

"Thor Odinson." Harry said as he reached out his left hand to help the god up. Thor accepted the help and Harry nearly lost his balance at feeling the weight of the man pulling on him. He recovered quickly and continued speaking. "A month ago I would have been very interested in speaking with you."

"For truth? What would you have liked to discuss.." Thor trailed off, his eyes continuing to look between Harry's own and the hammer in his right hand.

"Harry." he replied, assuming Thor was asking his name. He was done hiding. If he had been more open Agent Coulson, Phil, might have survived. "I saw what happened in New Mexico and was ready to blame Asgard until Phil Coulson set me right."

"The son of Coul, he is..?"

"Dead." Harry said as his face dropped. "The director just informed me."

"Then I have truly failed. I am glad to see Mjolnir has already found one more worthy than I." Thor said, looking anything but glad.

"More worthy?" Harry asked, looking down at the hammer. "It would work for me, but it is loyal to someone else. You, I would assume."

"Nay, it is the source of my power but it would bestow that power upon any that are worthy. That I have failed so greatly again.." he trailed off as his eyes fell to the ground.

Harry remembered that feeling, how it had felt when his holly wand had been broken. "Source of your power?" he asked in slight surprise. "It's an incredibly strong focus, but the power comes from within." he finished while holding the hammer out to Thor.

The god stared at the weapon as he tentatively reached out to it. His hand wrapped around the hilt just below Harry's and the relief that washed over his face as Harry let go was obvious.

"Well go on, give it a wave." Harry said, trying to ease the tension.

"You may wish to step back." Thor said with a large smile.

Harry complied and watched as Thor raised Mjolnir towards the sky. Wind began whipping around the god and storm-clouds darkened the sky overhead. Suddenly lighting began striking the hammer in a continuous stream, and as it did silver and black armor formed on the god, conjuring itself out of thin air. A red cape unfurled off his back as the lightning ceased.

"I must find Loki." Thor said, seriously now. "I would have words with him."

"I have a feeling a queue is forming." Harry replied, and Thor chuckled, his spirits having been lifted greatly. Harry put his sling ring on and conjured a portal to the roof of his flat.

"Midgard has wizards now?" Thor asked in surprise.

"A lot has happened since Asgard left this world." Harry said as he swept his hands behind him, the portal flying past the two of them to transport them to Manhattan.

(S/B)

The sight that greeted them was terrifying. A giant hole in the sky was pouring chariot-like vehicles out at an increasing pace. Already the aliens were flying through the streets, shooting energy weapons at the buildings and civilians on the ground. Harry spotted Iron Man engaging as many of the chariots as he could handle.

"I will deal with Loki, can you assist Stark in fighting the Chitauri?" Thor asked as he gazed at Stark Tower.

"Right, go." Harry replied. Thor whirled Mjolnir around and gave Harry one last nod before shooting off towards the building. Harry conjured a black balaclava and pulled it on. He felt no need to show his face to the cameras that were no doubt already recording this disaster.

Harry then removed his motorcycle from his trunk and sat heavily on it. He was loath to risk it but a broom just didn't seem sturdy enough for what he was about to do. Plus, it had a few surprises of its own. He revved the engine before kicking it into gear and rocketing off the roof of the building he was on. Already the Chitauri were swarming around him but the enchantments on the bike allowed him to maneuver out of the way of their weapons quickly enough.

With shielding charms aiding him Harry was able to get out ahead of the chariots but they continued to dog him as he flew towards Stark Tower up Sixth Avenue. Iron Man made a sharp turn to fly beside him and couldn't help but stare at Harry.

"Who are you supposed to be? Lobo?" the man asked in a mechanical voice.

"What?" Harry replied smartly.

"Never mind, are you the one Fury said was coming?" Stark asked as he flipped to his back to hit the trailing chariots with repulsor blasts.

Harry aided him by twisting around on his seat and throwing powerful blasting hexes at the following aliens. "Yea, he said you could use a hand. An alien invasion is quite more than I'd been expecting though!" he yelled at Stark over the noise of explosions.

"It's been one of those days. Does your ride shoot lasers or something? Because that would be a lot of help right about now." Stark replied as he dodged return fire.

"Something like that." Harry muttered. He thought about it for a moment before pressing one of the buttons on the motorcycle's handlebars. Suddenly a ten by ten foot wall made of brick sprung into existence and hung in the air. Impacts could be heard as many of the chariots slammed into the obstruction that hadn't existed moments ago.

"A brick wall? Seriously?" Tony asked incredulously.

"Really not the time!" Harry yelled back.

"Right, the cavalry has arrived." Tony said.

As they passed the next street Harry saw a jet open fire on the Chitauri behind them that had managed to weave around the brick wall. Iron Man rocketed straight up towards the portal, blasting any chariot that was ahead of him.

Harry pulled the cycle around so that he was heading towards Stark tower once again. The portal seemed to be originating there and most of the fighting was flowing around it. He had to shield much more than he returned fire but no matter what more of the aliens poured out of the hole in the sky.

Harry saw the jet that had aided him take a blue bolt of energy from a staff in Loki's hand. The jet listed dangerously and began an uncontrolled descent between buildings. Harry cursed, raced after it, and hit it with a yelled "_Arresto Momentum!_" causing the jet to slow dramatically before it settled on the ground. Harry heavily landed his motorcycle behind it, the tires screeching in protest, and jumped off intending to see if everyone on board had survived.

The ramp lowered and out raced the soldier Harry had seen in one of the videos at Stark Tower days before, followed by a man Harry recognized from the times he had visited the cube, and finally a red-haired woman in one of the S.H.I.E.L.D jumpsuits.

"We gotta get back up there!" the soldier known as Captain America called before noticing Harry. "Was that you that slowed us down?" he asked.

"Yea, I was flashing my high beams at you since forty-first street. Your jet is on fire, thought you aught to know." Harry replied with a wave at the jet. His eyes, however, were scanning the skies for incoming threats. There seemed to be a lull in the fighting around them.

"Thanks for the assist. Stark told us to expect you, you got a name we can use?" Steve asked while ignoring Harry's joke.

"Just Harry for now. We've got trouble" Harry said as he watched a giant, thing, fly over their heads. It looked like an armored whale hit with multiple overpowered _Engorgio_'s. What seemed to be hundreds of Chitauri were jumping off of it onto nearby buildings.

"Stark, are you seeing this?" Steve said into his communicator. "Banner?" he asked in confusion.

The three former jet owners ducked behind nearby cars when the aliens made their presence known once more, but Harry remained standing and began twisting his hands. Finally he dropped to a knee and slammed a hand to the ground. A thick bolt of orange energy arced its way to the Chitauri and lanced between the dozens of them that were pressing forward in a convenient column.

Rogers was staring wide-eyed at Harry when he looked back but the Captain only gave a curt nod before he vaulted over a nearby railing. The other two were already helping civilians get to safety and Harry raced over to assist them, summoning a rock and charming it to produce green smoke while he ran.

"Get them to the smoke!" he yelled as he conjured a portal to Yankee Stadium. If anywhere nearby could handle a sudden influx of people it had to be there.

They progressed down the street for a few minutes, fighting for every foot they got, but slowly civilians were disappearing through his portal. Harry would run ahead with Eldritch shields in both hands, tossing them between any nearby aliens like heat-seeking boomerangs, while Barton and Romanoff escorted the bystanders.

Harry saw lighting strike a group of nearby aliens before Thor landed with the now regrouped trio from the jet. As he ran to them a tired looking man rode up on a motorcycle that Harry was glad to see was not flying. It made him stop and summon his own from where he'd left it. He hopped on and drove the last fifty yards to the group.

Harry was not happy to see the leviathan heading straight for them, scraping along the street, but the new man seemed to be walking towards it.

"-ecret, Captain." he was saying as he looked back at them. "I'm always angry."

"Bloody hell.." Harry muttered as he watched the Hulk punch the leviathan's face straight into the street below it. He cast a shield charm around the group as shrapnel was blasted off of the beast by a rocket from Stark. Iron Man landed with them as the Chitauri began bellowing out battle cries.

"Guys." Natasha said, watching dozens more leviathans fly through the portal.

"Call it, Captain." Stark said.

As Captain America began listing orders to the assembled Avengers, Harry was running through spells in his head. He knew a few that might be able to take down the giant beasts, but anything that could handle multiple at a time would be devastating to anything nearby. He glanced down at the big red button centered on his handlebars, and a smile split his face. He hadn't had a reason to use it since the Battle of the Seven Potters.

"Harry? What can you do?" Steve asked.

"Bagsy on the big ones." he said, looking to the sky now.

"You sure?"

"Oh yea." Harry replied as he revved his motorcycle for the second time that day.

**A/N:** Woof writing combat is hard. Not totally sure how I feel about this one, but I hope it reads well.

Shout-out to Radeisth for the Mjolnir = magical focus. Really it's obvious when you think about it, and Thor's character development is all about learning that his power comes from him, not the hammer. Maybe Harry's push in that direction will help?

A guest reviewer pointed out that ravens don't generally travel in flocks, and I edited Ch3 to reflect that after deciding that Harry would know that.

A complaint I could see myself having if I was reading this story is that Harry so far hasn't changed enough, but I really wanted to get to the Avengers Assemble point. Also, Phil Coulson is the push the Avengers needed and I think it's important for Harry to deal with that as well.

Thank you to everyone who read, reviewed, favorited, or followed. I appreciate it more than can be said through text.


	7. Chapter 7

Don't own anything Marvel, Harry Potter, or any other references you recognize.

Chapter 7

Revving the engine of an enchanted motorcycle wasn't strictly necessary. Really the only reason Harry even needed to turn it on was due to the fact that it was enchanted that way, because what did the wheel spinning around and around actually accomplish? Landing at speed is certainly easier if you're accelerating, any decent dirt-bike rider will tell you that, but the flying portion could be as loud or as quiet as Harry desired.

But none of that went through Harry's head as he took off down the road littered with Chitauri shooting their alien weaponry at him. Every once in a while Harry had a chance to show-off, to live by the rule-of-cool that Teddy loved to preach. And if Harry didn't make his motorcycle roar as he shot into the air, Teddy would whinge for the next year after seeing the memory in Harry's pensive.

A _Sectumsempra_ decapitated a bunched up group of Chitauri and Harry thought it'd probably be best to wait until Teddy turned seventeen for this one.

The chariots were certainly doing a lot of damage but Stark and Barton seemed capable of taking them on with minimal fuss, so Harry mostly ignored them. He would throw out exploding hexes at any that got in his way, but other than that he was hunting something bigger.

Harry saw his first target flying through buildings half a mile ahead of him so he pulled back the throttle as far as it would go, the engine roaring in response, and he quickly caught up to it. The leviathans were obviously troop-transports of some kind, each one of them disgorging a continuous stream of foot-soldiers any time they were near enough to something to land on. Thor, the only other one that Harry thought could take them down, seemed busy. So it was up to him.

Staying above the leviathan kept the worst of the return fire away but the Chitauri were clearly intent on defending the beast. Each one of the flying transports that he defeated would be a greater blow than a hundred dead aliens.

As he finally pulled ahead of the leviathan he arced down in front of it, barely maintaining ten yards of separation from its massive jaws. He began pestering it with random hexes, mostly to keep its focus on him, and led it up and away from the buildings nearby. Just as he was about to press the red button Iron Man flew up next to him from somewhere below the beast.

"Barton says you got something on your six." Stark said a little more urgently than normal.

Harry feigned a startled jerk and looked behind him. "Whoa! Don't they know it's rude to tailgate?" he asked in faux incredulousness. "Might wanna move!" he yelled to Stark.

He saw Iron Man just shake his head and rocket away in search of new targets. When Harry felt Stark was far enough to be safe he finally slammed a hand down onto the button at the center of his handlebars.

Immediately a giant torrent of dragon fire released itself from the exhaust pipe of the motorcycle. Harry's speed doubled as the leviathan swallowed the magical fire, its maw having been open in an attempt to consume him. Its roar of protest became a deep, choking, gurgling sound before the fire did its damage and broke the surface of the great beast. The air pressure difference caused the remaining fire to explode outward, catching dozens of nearby chariots in its wake, before it finally sputtered and died as the beast's remains began raining down.

Harry felt the thrill of accomplishment briefly as he looked back at his handiwork, until he faced his vehicle towards Stark Tower again and saw multiple other leviathans crashing through the streets below. He felt like a rookie Auror going through field-healer training all over again. Treat the symptoms if they're life threatening and treatable, otherwise work on the underlying issue. Taking down one troop-transport didn't accomplish much if in the same time three more came out of the portal.

Harry landed on a tall building and thought hard, all the while shielding and counter-attacking chariots that came near him. He had a decision to make. Either work on shutting down the portal, or hope someone else did and help Thor bottleneck the aliens coming through. It didn't take him long to realize that he was likely the only one that could actually help Thor, so he got off the motorcycle and pointed his wand to the sky.

Slowly he began to sweep it in a circle, each rotation enlarging the circle until eventually he was tracing the horizon. Rubble drifted towards the building slowly at first, gaining in speed with each concentric arc completed. By the end the rubble was spinning around and around the building, as if it was a giant tornado, and when Harry could barely see through the rubble-maelstrom he snapped his wand straight back towards the portal.

The rubble shot forward, still twisting in on itself, and tore through everything in its path. Each chariot destroyed added to the deadly wave and by the time it disappeared through the portal it had almost doubled in size.

With that slight reprieve Harry set off to find his allies, hoping one of them had a better plan.

(S/B)

Harry saw Thor and Captain America desperately fighting a large group of Chitauri not far from the building he'd been on. They looked to be on the verge of being overwhelmed when Harry swooped through and banished the aliens that were attempting to flank the duo.

He landed his motorcycle and summoned the Captain's shield from where it was lying, directing it to the man. Somehow Steve caught it as if he'd been expecting it and used it to finish off the small group of aliens he'd been fighting.

"Thanks." Steve said with a nod, already looking for new enemies.

"Anyone know how to close the portal?" Harry asked.

"Natasha is working on it. Wait.." Steve said as he held a hand to his ear. "Stark says he intercepted a nuke, he's going to try to put it through the portal."

"Brilliant, a bloody nuke? Who the hell thought that was a good idea?" Harry asked incredulously.

"I doubt Stark will be able to make it through that." Thor said, pointing his hammer at the portal.

Harry could only nod as he looked at the already gathering swarm of Chitauri outside the portal. Evidently the reprieve he'd bought them wouldn't last as long as he'd hoped.

"I guess I'll just have to clear him a path.." Harry muttered.

"It might be a one way trip." Steve warned.

"I've had worse odds." Harry replied as he kicked his motorcycle into gear. He wasn't all that confident that he actually had.

As Harry neared the portal he had to fight his way up increasingly slowly. Eventually he was forgoing his usual repertoire of spells in favor of mass banishment charms, continuously throwing the chariot riding aliens into one another with ease. Soon though he could only hold a shielding charm around himself, and that too was beginning to strain under the constant stream of energy fire. He would have to come up with a different plan if Stark was to even have a chance.

A path cleared in the Chitauri swarm ahead of him as another leviathan came down through the portal, and Harry's brain naturally gave him possibly the best/worst idea that had a chance of total success/failure.

He pulled his motorcycle in a back-flip, corkscrew turn to stay ahead of the leviathan that was coming straight at him and let it slowly catch up to him. As the wheels of the bike touched down on the head of the beast he cast a sticking charm on the bottom of his shoes and leapt off his ride, simultaneously summoning the bike and shrinking it so that he could stuff it in an inner coat pocket.

With that he stowed his wand away and brought his hands together, forming a circle with his pointer fingers and thumbs. A moment of concentration later copies of his arms began sprout from his back until he thrust his arms out, and nine clones stood behind him in a triangle formation. As one they all reared their right arm back and then threw them forward, as if tossing a lasso. Thick red bands of glowing energy descended below the leviathan's upper mouth, looped through, and came back up to be held by the ten Harry Potters that stood on its head.

Together the clones pulled their makeshift reins and the monster roared its disapproval. But still it could not help but attempt to alleviate the new pain, and it changed its course until they were flying straight towards the portal.

The original Harry at the front of the triangle released his reins, relying on the others to maintain their direction, and he once again brought his hands together in concentration. He turned his body as if to show a smaller profile to the portal and focused his eyes where his hands met.

After a few moments of flight, spent concentrating and getting closer to the portal, Harry looked up. The hole in the sky now dominated his field of vision, and he could just make out what looked to be a command ship in the distance surrounded by dozens of other ships and a never ending swarm of the alien army.

Finally he thrust his hands up while dropping to one knee and intoned in a deep, otherworldly voice "By the Seven Suns of Cinnibus!". What looked like seven multicolored stars were visible for just a moment, orbiting each other above his cupped hands, before each one shot a widening beam of kaleidoscopic energy towards the source of the aliens. The seven beams spiraled into one and raced forward faster than a blink, instantly erasing all it touched. The air between Harry and the portal turned to plasma and incinerated the Chitauri too close to flee, chariots and leviathans alike.

He had just enough time to see the command ship, with a brand new atmosphere-exhaust-port straight through the center of it, before he had to jump off the head of the leviathan as it crossed through the portal. He fell back-first towards the earth and couldn't help but admire the constellations of some distant part of the universe before he flipped to his stomach. He could only hope that he had cleared enough of a path for Stark.

Normally he would hesitate to use such a destructive spell, but desperate times called for desperate measures, and already he could tell it had been used to great effect. The air before him was mostly clear, the remainder of the alien army still fighting amongst the buildings. The air was _mostly_ clear because heading straight for Harry was Iron Man with a large missile held on his back.

Harry again flipped to his back and watched as Tony Stark flew through the portal, aiming the rocket straight at the center of the group of alien ships. Harry thought Stark should be turning back to the portal but he seemed to be floating there, dead in space, as the missile reached the ships and exploded. The ships nearest the detonation vaporized instantly in a flash Harry was sure he'd have to look away from without his charmed glasses. The ones further away were already being torn apart by the left over scrap.

Harry thought quickly when Stark remained stationary in space and removed his wand. A powerful _Ascendio_ halted his downward momentum and reversed it, causing him to shoot once again towards the portal. The G forces nearly caused him to pass out but he maintained his focus and yelled "_ACCIO TONY STARK!_"

The armored man barely made it through the portal as it closed, but make it he did. As Harry's upward momentum crested he caught Iron Man and cast a sticking charm on the man's back, sticking the armor to his own chest. Together the duo began to fall again like tandem sky-divers. There was no way for Harry to maneuver his broom or motorcycle underneath them so he summoned his sling ring and slipped it on.

Harry opened a portal a few yards ahead of them, the exit opening just above the Stark Tower landing platform, and together they shot out. Gravity reasserted itself quickly after that and Harry landed on the platform with Stark still stuck to his chest. He let out a heavy grunt as the armor's weight landed on him, almost certainly breaking a few ribs. If they had reached terminal velocity he was sure he'd be dead.

Harry unstuck the man and shoved him off with a wheeze of pain. Thor, Captain America, and the Hulk landed near them and ran over to check on the two prone men but Harry blearily waved them off towards Stark as he removed his balaclava, indicating that he himself was still alive. He would have liked nothing more than to leave his eyes closed, curl into a fetal ball, and have a nap.

The Hulk apparently had other ideas as he roared in Tony's face, causing both of their eyes to shoot open.

Stark took in a few gasping breaths before he said, "What the hell? What just happened? Please tell me nobody kissed me?"

"We won." Steve said with a sigh of relief.

Tony began sarcastically celebrating but Harry was busy. He'd ripped open his shirt and vest, still lying flat on the ground, and began repairing what damage to his ribs that he could. Sadly his entire chest was already bruising heavily, and he had a few scorch marks that he hadn't felt receiving. 'Maybe Poppy has a point.' he thought to himself as the soreness began to set in.

As Harry stood slowly and ran his wand up his shirt, repairing the buttons, he heard something about shawarma. "Hey, yea, I know a great place in Cairo." At some point Natasha and Barton had shown up, and now all of them were staring at him. "What, we're getting shawarma, right?" he asked, looking back at them confusedly.

"Yea.. I was thinking a little closer to home." Tony said.

"Oh, sure, that works too." he replied with a shrug.

"Let us deal with Loki first." Thor said with a grin.

(S/B)

"If its all the same to you, I'll have that drink now." Loki said as he looked up at the assembled group.

Harry snorted and waved his wand at the apparent god, casting a silent _Aguamenti_. The stream of water drenched Loki, who began to sputter incessantly.

"Magician." Loki hissed. "I would show you true magic, not your petty parlor tricks."

"You had your chance. You lost." Harry said with what he would never admit was a sneer. He thrust a hand at Loki and bound the defeated god in the same red bands he had used earlier. One wrapping around his wrists, another around his ankles, and a final one connecting the two.

"Release me and I will show you why they call me the God of Magic!" Loki retorted, quickly regaining the anger that had been beat out of him by the Hulk.

"Oh, please keep talking, _God of Lies_, it's such a rare treat that I get to practice the defenestration charm."

"The what charm?" Barton asked, watching the byplay with some amusement.

"I think 'Harry' here is threatening to throw him out a window." Natasha replied with her own small smirk.

"_I_ think that's enough." Steve said with finality, over Harry's muttered "Got it in one."

"I wasn't actually going to do it." Harry said defensively. "But how many people can say they made a god flinch?"

"If anyone could!" Thor exclaimed with a hearty laugh as he patted Harry on the back. Harry had flashbacks to Hagrid's own exuberance as the Hulk let out a guttural noise that sounded suspiciously like a chuckle.

"Ooh, watch the ribs big guy." Harry said with a hacking cough.

"So, a magician?" Tony asked, now very interested in Harry.

Harry waved his wand at Loki again, satisfied by the small flinch it resulted in, and cast a silencing charm over the bound god. "Something like that." he finally replied.

"Your names Harry?" Tony continued, and received a nod. "Tell me your last name isn't Houdini."

"What? No -"

"Dresden?"

"No, it's Potter."

"A good name for a good profession." Thor said with a nod.

"Er, right. So when does he shrink back?" Harry asked, indicating the Hulk in attempt to get the focus off himself.

"As soon as he calms down." Natasha said in answer, though her eyes remained on Harry.

Harry just hummed and cast a strong calming charm on the green giant, while watching with interest. It wasn't as potent or as long lasting as the potion, but it should work. The Hulk grunted in confusion before slowly shrinking back to the form of the tired man from before. Harry hit the man's pants with a repairing charm when it looked like they were about to fall off.

"Never got your name." Harry said as he reached a hand out to help the man up.

"Bruce Banner. What did you just do? The other guy never goes that easily." the now named man said as he accepted the help.

"Calming charm, does what it says, as most do."

"So you're some kind of wizard?" Steve asked, looking disgruntled. "I owe Fury another ten bucks."

"Oh, the director doesn't really know about me yet." Harry replied. "I'll have to talk to him but hopefully that's after, well, after I finish up with some things."

"You're trying to stay hidden?" Natasha asked, and Harry only now noticed the staff held in her hand.

"For now, yes. I think I should probably take that." Harry said, indicating the staff.

"S.H.I.E.L.D will protect the scepter just fine." she said coolly.

"Terribly sorry, I didn't mean to imply you had a choice."

Natasha blinked at her now empty hand and looked like she was about to protest when Barton laid a hand on her shoulder "Maybe he's right, Nat." Natasha just looked at him askance so he continued. "Its like you said. Monsters and magic, we aren't trained for this. He clearly is." She finally gave a grudging nod and crossed her arms.

"Right, and the Tesseract?" Harry asked, glad that they wouldn't fight him on it. He wouldn't be making that mistake again. When the others looked back to him the scepter was nowhere in sight, safely tucked away in a pocket dimension. Or just a pocket.

"I will need it to return Loki and I to Asgard. It can be kept safe there in Odin's treasure room." Thor replied.

"What about the Bifrost Bridge?"

"Destroyed." Thor answered, shooting a glare at Loki. "You know much for a Midgardian."

"Comes with the territory." Harry replied with a weak smile.

"Great, shawarma?" Tony asked hopefully.

(S/B)

Dealing with S.H.I.E.L.D was annoying for the group, but Harry was allowed to fade into the background with a minor muggle-repelling charm on himself. After Steve had announced that they would keep his identity secret as long as he needed, backed up by Thor, the group accepted with no protest.

Harry could only think that he needed to find a way to make friends that didn't involve life or death situations.

The S.H.I.E.L.D 'S.T.R.I.K.E' team that showed up to secure Loki, until he could be returned to Asgard, seemed annoyed that they wouldn't be recovering the Tesseract or the scepter. It only took a few clipped words from Natasha and the glares of the gathered Avengers to get them to accept, though, and soon the group was walking the streets towards to the shawarma place Tony wanted to try.

Amazingly the elderly couple that owned the restaurant were there, already cleaning up the damage, and accepted the group with open arms. Apparently being seen as heroes meant they wouldn't be paying for their meal, but both Harry and Tony silently vowed to leave a hearty tip.

They mostly ate in tired silence until they were nearly done, when Thor decided to speak up.

"Songs will be sung all throughout Asgard of our battle today, my friends." he said with a content smile.

"Yea, there's no covering this one up." Clint muttered.

"Too bad we don't have a Thunderbird." Harry said offhandedly. When the others looked at him again he just shook his head. "Tell you later."

"And I thought Fury's secrets had secrets." Tony said, still looking at him.

"Where'd you come from, anyway?" Natasha asked.

"Well, in the beginning the universe was created.."

Harry was gratified when Tony at least chuckled and continued "This has made a lot of people very angry."

Natasha, however, just raised an eyebrow at Harry so he weakly said "Britain?"

Only Thor seemed uninterested in pressing him, but it was Bruce who attempted to change the subject. 'Attempted' being the operative word. "A month ago I would have said you were insane if you told me magic was real."

"And then a god whammied my mind with it." Clint said, looking at Harry with only slight distrust.

"Been there, mate." Harry said in solidarity. "Unpleasant business."

"So there's more of you?" Natasha asked.

Harry just sighed. "I don't want to lie to you guys. I get that you work for an intelligence agency, but I'm already probably in a lot of trouble for today. If you could just keep me off the books until I take care of some things I promise to tell you everything I can."

Natasha had the tact to at least appear sheepish as she muttered "Sorry.. Old habits."

"Whatever it is, you're still one of us." Steve said with authority. "We couldn't have won today without all of us working together."

Tony air-quoted "The Avengers."

"You think there will be more of, well, this?" Bruce asked, tiredly waving at the destroyed street outside.

"Things are changing." Harry replied with a grim look to Thor. "Activating the Tesseract, defeating an alien army. There are other worlds out there just waiting for a chance to take us on now."

"Harry is correct." Thor affirmed. "I know not who gave Loki the scepter or his army, but it cannot be good."

"What then?" Clint asked. "We fight off more alien invasions?"

"Whatever comes, we'll be ready." Steve replied.

Tony was looking annoyed with the conversation when he said "Enough depressing talk. We won, lets get some dessert."

"I could go for some treacle-tart." Harry agreed, perking up.

"Some what-tart?" Bruce questioned.

"Treacle.. you've never had treacle-tart?" Harry asked incredulously, only receiving confused shakes of the head in return. "Bloody yanks, the lot of you. I'll be right back." he said before apparating to his flat. From there he opened a portal to Grimmauld Place, stepped through, and called out "Kreacher!"

"Half-blood master calls for Kreacher?" the elf said from behind him.

"Kreacher, could you go to Hogwarts and get as much treacle-tart as you can carry, please?" Harry asked the house-elf.

"Kreacher will do what the good-half-blood-master asks." he replied before popping away.

Less than a minute later the elf returned with a veritable mountain of Harry's favorite pudding. "Whoa, that's a lot. Perfect, thank you Kreacher." he said as he took over the levitation of the dessert.

"Winky be keeping some ready for you." Kreacher said as Harry opened a portal back to the restaurant, there was no way he was apparating with the stack of dessert. Luckily a house-elf that didn't want to be seen never would be.

The others stared wide-eyed as Harry came through. "Dig in, plenty to go around." he said with a smile as he set the pudding on the table.

"Man, I really need to spend more time in jolly old England." Tony said as he took his third helping.

(S/B)

The combined brains of Doctor Selvig, Doctor Banner, and Tony Stark were able to construct a device that could harness the Tesseract, allowing Thor and Loki a way home.

The group was gathered once again a week later, in Central Park, to see the two off. Before they could leave, though, Harry asked for a word with Thor.

"Do you know what the Tesseract is?" he asked seriously when they were alone.

"It was once the crown jewel of Odin's treasure room, before we lost it on Midgard many years ago."

"No, I mean what it really is. What's contained within the cube."

"I'm afraid I don't." Thor said with a frown.

"Have you heard of the Infinity Stones?" Harry asked, and could immediately tell that the god had. "The cube contains one. There's another on Earth, and I'm not sure yet, I need to run some more tests, but I think the scepter has another one in it."

"That is worrisome." Thor said, maintaining his frown. "That three of six could be found in one galaxy, let alone on the same planet, cannot be a coincidence."

"That's what I thought, too." Harry agreed. "Whatever, whoever, gave Loki his army had to know that."

"You think someone is attempting to gather them?" Thor asked skeptically. "There are very few beings that can wield even one."

"I don't know. But we need to be prepared. You have access to a lot more knowledge than I do, can you look into it?"

"I will do what I can." Thor allowed. "But the other realms have been plunged into chaos with the destruction of the Bifrost Bridge. I will be busy containing ravagers all across the nine realms once it is restored."

"Thanks, and.." Harry started, thinking back to his conversation with the Ancient One. "And.. make sure you spend time with your parents." At Thor's surprised look he continued, "It's just something the.. one of my mentors said to me. She said the old protectors are ready to move on. I think she might have been speaking of Odin, too."

"He does grow old." Thor said with a chuckle. "Good advice, regardless. Perhaps he will allow you to visit us in Asgard. That Midgard has such powerful and wise sorcerers now will no doubt be of interest to my mother."

"That'd be great." Harry said with a smile.

(S/B)

"If you ever feel like being a lab rat, stop by the tower." Tony said to Harry after Thor and Loki left. "Shouldn't take longer than a few weeks to get her back in shape."

"I'm sure I'll be around, soon" Harry said with a nod.

"Fury's been bugging us every day to talk to you." Natasha said, though it was with much less chill than she had immediately after repelling an alien invasion.

"Haven't even given him a name, though." Clint added.

"I really appreciate it. I'm working on it, and I think I'm almost there."

"Bureaucrats work slowly everywhere, I guess, magic or not eh?" Tony prodded.

Harry chuckled and said "Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies."

"What you did to the other guy, is that reproducible?" Bruce asked with interest.

Harry nodded and replied "Should be, though what I did was only a stopgap, really. We'll have to test some other things."

"Thanks, I look forward to it." Bruce said as he shook Harry's hand.

The others trickled away until it was only Harry and Steve, both mounting their respective motorcycles.

"So, Captain America, any chance I can get you to convert to British engineering?" Harry asked cheekily as he started his bike.

"Doubt it, what's that thing's top speed? Fifty?" Steve asked with a smirk.

"Oh, it's a race you want. You remember what I am, right? Wait, what's that?" he asked, pointing to something behind Steve.

When Steve looked back to where Harry was after not seeing anything behind him, the other man was gone. "Can't believe I fell for that.." he muttered as he drove off.

**A/N** Another tough chapter, but we've made it to the end of The Avengers. I went through this chapter more times than all the others combined, and by the time I was done the combat portion was almost doubled in length and looked nothing like it had at first. It started with Harry pretty much fighting solo until I realized he needed to be assisting the other Avengers, becoming part of the team. At the same time it's their first time fighting together, so I didn't go full Dr. Strange in Infinity War knowing exactly when and where to open portals for his allies.

Also our first major canon divergence. How will it impact their futures? I don't exactly know myself yet, but I'm excited to find out.

Big thanks to my reviewers, you lot are great. Critique is always welcome, and I do try to take other ideas into consideration. Dzerx thinks Harry should learn to fly himself, a la Voldemort/Snape. This chapter left that idea open, maybe. What does everyone else think?

To everyone who read, favorited, and followed thank you as well. Hope you enjoyed.


	8. Chapter 8

Don't own anything Marvel, Harry Potter, or any other references you recognize.

This chapter starts right after the Battle of New York and then skips past Thor/Loki leaving. Should be obvious but in case it's not, here you go.

Chapter 8

Legislative bodies, especially Wizarding ones, are sometimes incredibly reactionary. An expert can warn of impending doom until they're blue in the face and politicians will hem and haw until they're in the same state, and nothing will change. But once an issue becomes so catastrophic that it can no longer be ignored bureaucrats suddenly develop the incredible ability to actually do something.

So it was with little surprise that when Harry entered MACUSA headquarters the day after the Chitauri invasion he spent all of thirty minutes in Auror custody, the entirety of it waiting in the lobby talking with the duo. Chief Auror Heahke retrieved him quickly after that and brought him to President Quahog's office, where they discussed their options. Harry's actions were realistically the worst breach of the Statute of Secrecy since the Obscurus incident of the twenties, and this time there was no way to cover it up.

Muggle technology had gotten to the point where once something was recorded and uploaded to the internet there was no way it was ever truly being deleted. Wizards and witches, in turn, had become more adept at hiding themselves from said technology. Nearly every school now taught their students about the various ways muggles had to record things, and more importantly how to avoid them.

However, this had the unfortunate side effect of further isolating the wizarding world as it became increasingly tedious to constantly watch what one was doing. More citizens of the wizarding world decided every day that it simply wasn't worth the effort to hide their nature while out and about, so they just kept to their own spaces.

Thankfully the world truly is a big place. The magical population wasn't so numerous that there would ever be conflict over livable land, and with magic really anywhere could be made comfortable.

'First-gen' witches and wizards had the most difficult time of it, rarely wanting to entirely give up one world or the other. Every year the eleven-year-old first-gens came to Hogwarts, or their respective school, more and more attached to the technology they grew up with. But magic was magic, and very few turned down the chance to learn. They just had to be the most careful.

Muggle technology was also getting so advanced that it was sometimes nearly impossible, even for the trained magicals investigating, to tell the difference between computer generated imagery and actual magical events. Conspiracy theories were rampant, helped along by the ICW, but most of the 'rational' muggle population brushed them off.

So it was a cheerful President Quahog that informed Harry that he was the only wizard caught on camera performing magic that day. It couldn't be brushed under the carpet thanks to the public nature of his actions, let alone the scale. But that he was seen along side _thee_ God of Thunder, combating _thee_ God of Mischief, at least counted for something. Quahog reckoned that Harry would just be lumped in with them by the no-majs.

Harry, for his part, was actually pleasantly surprised by how much MACUSA had done to protect the population of New York, no-maj or not. Of course none of the no-maj population truly knew how they'd been saved, but it was a small price to pay for their continued breathing.

Viho, unsurprisingly, had a copy of the file Harry had given to Tonks, and was later held by Kingsley. That it was the most comprehensive write up of the strange no-majs popping up everywhere was a bit annoying for Harry. It indicated to him that neither wizarding government cared to investigate for themselves, but it would ultimately benefit Harry in the end.

"There are calls at the ICW for your imprisonment." Viho told Harry as their conversation was winding down in the President's office. "But the interviews you did there are public record, and already every major paper is publishing them, demanding to know why your warnings were ignored."

"Those same papers that were unsubtley implying that I was losing it?"

"The very same." Viho said with a chuckle.

"Yes, well, you have to admit it seemed outlandish at the time." Quahog said.

"I was ready to send my Aurors home." Viho said with some embarrassment. "They weren't too happy being forced to come in on their on-call days."

"I wish I had been wrong." Harry said with a shrug. "I'd have taken the ridicule over what happened any day."

"Your warning saved countless lives, though, and now people are claiming you're a Seer." Viho said.

"Exactly!" Quahog said, perking up. "We can use that. Since Viho and I listened to your warnings we can easily push through a bill making you our liaison to this, S.H.I.E.L.D."

Quahog hadn't even been part of that decision, but neither Viho or Harry were going to say otherwise. The President would be necessary to smooth over Harry's lawbreaking, so they'd play the game.

"We could also have it retroactively apply to yesterday's events." Viho said in agreement. "You were acting in accordance with any rational interpretation of the self defense clause of the Statute anyway."

"Why, MACUSA headquarters wouldn't even be standing if you hadn't stopped the aliens!" Quahog said as he furiously scribbled notes on a piece of parchment.

"It wasn't just me." Harry said. "I had a lot of help."

"Humble as always." Quahog said, waving off Harry's words. "We'll have to play up your actions a little if we want the ICW to back off. If your own Ministry passes a similar bill no doubt other governments will do the same, and the ICW will be forced to follow."

"Do you need me here for any of it?" Harry asked, quickly growing weary of the conversation. He truly hated the political side of helping people.

"No, not until we debate the bill at least." Quahog said, not even looking up to him.

"Brilliant. I'm going to find a healer and a drink."

"You were injured?" Viho asked. "You look fine."

"Every breath is agony." Harry said in a deadpan voice.

(S/B)

"Mr. Potter." Poppy Pomfrey said as she returned from lunch to the sight of Harry laying in one of her beds. She gave out a heavy, put-upon sigh. "Why are you here this time?"

"Quidditch acci-"

"Quidditch accident, of course. I forget, who do you play for?"

Harry scratched the back of his head as he thought up a reply. He had been sure that he hadn't use that excuse in a while. "Er... Holyhead?"

"Right, the all witch team, silly me. Well why aren't you with their Healing staff? Or Saint Mungo's for that matter?"

"And get mobbed by the press?" Harry asked rhetorically. "Besides, they don't have a bed with my name on it, do they?"

"Funny, that." Madam Pomfrey said, now giving Harry a distinctly evil eye. "Last time you were here you said the same thing."

"And?"

"And, when I went to rectify the problem someone had cast a sticking charm I can't break on the placard."

"Did you try moving the bed?" Harry asked innocently.

Madam Pomfrey just scowled at him instead of continuing the exchange. After a moment she relented and asked, "What seems to be the problem, then?"

"A few broken ribs, some burns. Nothing too bad. I think I did an okay job setting them." Harry said as he removed his shirt. His entire chest was bruised, and he hadn't been lying when he said every breath was painful.

As Madam Pomfrey began running her wand up and down his torso she tutted softly under her breath. She bustled around his bed, applying burn and bruising cream where it was needed, until she stopped over the right side of his rib-cage. "It would be best to vanish this one." she said with a prod of her wand. The rib in question screamed its disapproval.

"Ugh, Skele-Gro. Are you sure that's necessary?" When Madam Pomfrey just raised an eyebrow at him he sighed and nodded. "Alright then."

"Bed rest, at least twenty-four hours." she said curtly.

As Harry was bracing himself for the disgusting potion the door to the hospital wing opened and a head with turquoise hair stuck through the crack. When Madam Pomfrey left to her office Teddy finally entered and walked quickly to Harry's bed.

"Hey Harry." Teddy whispered. "What happened?"

Harry downed the potion with a grimace before answering. "You'll likely find out at dinner when the Prophet sends a special edition. Alien invasion, subdued a God. You know how it is." he said with a wink.

Teddy's eyebrows shot up and he looked at Harry incredulously. "I never know when you're joking."

Harry laughed softly before it turned into a pained cough. "I guess you'll just have to wait and see. I'm surprised McGonagall hasn't come to kick me out yet."

Teddy shrugged and said, "She wasn't at lunch or class this morning."

"Speaking of class, are you supposed to be here?"

"Oh! I better go." Teddy said before giving Harry a quick hug. "See you soon?"

"Sure, next Hogsmeade weekend. Go on."

(S/B)

Early the next morning Harry was seated at the kitchen table of Grimmauld Place, sipping a cup of tea. It hadn't yet been twenty-four hours, and his chest was still tingling painfully, but he'd never been one to stay in bed that long. Tonks walked in and stopped abruptly at the sight of him.

"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"Well I live here?" he said questioningly.

"No, what are you doing in Britain?"

"Sorry?"

"There's a warrant out for your arrest, Harry."

He set the tea he was about to sip down on the table and stared at Tonks. "Sorry?" he repeated.

Tonks rolled her eyes at him. "You broke just about every clause of the Statute."

"Stopping an alien invasion!"

"I know that, Shack knows that, hell, the Wizengamot knows that. We're still supposed to arrest you till it gets sorted."

"Well shite."

"I never saw you." Tonks said as she shook her head. "Just go back to MACUSA until we can pass the S.H.I.E.L.D liaison bill."

"I was going to go to dinner at the Burrow tonight. I'm surprised Hermione hasn't torn through here looking for me already." Harry said with a chuckle.

"She was still at the Ministry when I left last night. She probably never even went home." Tonks said as she started to fix herself a small breakfast.

"Then it'll be sorted in no time, right?"

"I don't know, Harry." she replied with another shake of her head. "We've never dealt with anything like this."

"Would it help if I brought Thor?"

Tonks stopped her cooking and turned around to look at him. "You spoke to Thor Odinson?"

"Well yeah, haven't you seen the videos all over the muggle news?" Harry asked. "I fought with him."

"I've been at the Ministry. We've been on high alert in case it wasn't over."

"It is." Harry assured her. "We captured Loki. Apparently he was responsible for New Mexico as well."

"And they haven't left yet?" she asked.

"It's complicated. They shouldn't be on Earth more than a week, though. They're staying with S.H.I.E.L.D."

Tonks nodded her head as she thought about it. "That should help. The fact that S.H.I.E.L.D helped stop everything will make it easier to pass our bill. I assume you gave MACUSA a report?"

"Yeah, I'll have Viho send you a copy."

"Thanks. Alright, back to the States right after dinner."

"Yes ma'am." Harry said with a jaunty salute.

(S/B)

Just as Harry had been expecting Hermione fretted over him for nearly an hour before he was allowed to sit and enjoy dinner. He loved her as much as it was possible to platonically love someone, but still it grew tiresome. Thankfully the rest of the Weasleys didn't really understand what happened, or the severity of it. Hermione was the only one that paid any attention to the muggle news, and the Prophet was doing its level best to downplay the events of New York. It wasn't exactly surprising, the British wizarding world was almost legendary in its isolationism even years after the war.

Harry offered to do the dishes after dinner, to which Molly of course protested until he started doing them anyway. He was standing at the sink doing them by hand when Ginny entered the kitchen and watched him silently for a few minutes.

"Hi Ginny." Harry finally said to break the silence.

"So, how bad was it?" she asked, ignoring his greeting.

Harry sighed and set the plate he'd been cleaning down in the soapy water. He turned and faced her before replying. "Pretty bad." he admitted.

"Pretty bad?" she repeated, her eyebrows raising in surprise. "So really really bad for us mortals, then?"

Harry cracked a smile and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so."

"Injuries?" she asked, slowly walking to him.

"Just a few bruised ribs."

Harry was now leaning against the counter, bracing his hands behind him, when she softly laid a hand on his chest. "A few broken ribs, then." Ginny said, looking straight up into his eyes.

"Yeah." he said quietly.

Ginny slowly unbuttoned his shirt and pulled it open, staring at his bruised chest. She lightly ran her fingers over the right side of his ribs, stopping directly over the one that was still being regrown. "Skele-Gro?" she questioned. Harry silently nodded his head. "Is it done, then?"

"For now."

"For now?"

Harry shrugged slightly. "There will be more."

"There's always more, Harry."

"And I'll always be there."

Ginny removed her hand from his chest and stepped back to sit on the kitchen table behind her. "You can't not be, can you?"

"We've had this conversation before, Ginny." Harry said. He had to fight off a sigh as he buttoned his shirt back up.

"And I'm thankful every time we have it, Harry." she said with a hint of annoyance.

"Why, doesn't it get tedious?"

"Because it means you're still here to have it with!" Ginny said hotly "How much is enough? When do you get to stop fighting?"

"I have a responsibility to fight, Ginny!"

"Why you? _Why_ does it always have to be you?"

"Because I can!"

The anger that had ignited in Ginny faded as quickly as it'd come. Evidently it did get tedious for her as well. "Others can, too." she said quietly.

"Because if I didn't and something happened to Teddy, to Hermione or Ron, to you. I couldn't live with that." Harry said, equally drained of his anger.

"It's not for us." Ginny said with a small shake of her head. "We've been safe since you stopped Tom. You're gone more than I am."

"This is different. Aliens don't care about borders." Harry replied with a shrug. "Speaking of, though, are you going to be home for a bit? I could use help with something."

Ginny rolled her eyes at his attempt to change the subject but ultimately let him. "Merlin, how stupid is it this time?"

"Oi, why do you assume it's a stupid idea?"

"Because if you actually thought it was a good idea you'd ask Hermione."

"Okay, it's pretty stupid." Harry conceded with a sheepish smile. "How good is your Arresto Momentum?"

"I play professional Quidditch, it's good. Why?" she asked with narrowed eyes.

"Just be in the orchard tomorrow morning. You'll see." Harry replied.

(S/B)

Harry spent the night in New York to appease Tonks and the time difference meant he was waking up around two a.m. By five he was sure Ginny had to be up so he opened a portal to the Weasley orchard and stepped through, happy to see her walking the path towards him from the Burrow.

When she reached him Harry just asked her to be ready with her wand. After that he concentrated on what he would need to do for a few minutes. Combining spells wasn't new to him, but he'd never thought to do it on himself.

"Okay, ready?" Harry asked, and received a nod. "_Locomotor Harry Potter._" he incanted aloud with a tap of his wand to his head. He rose an inch off the ground for a moment before losing balance and falling over, breaking the spell.

"That's it?" Ginny asked with a giggle.

"Just give me a second." Harry said as he got up. The spell at least worked, so this time he tried it silently. He concentrated on moving around upright, whereas before he was thinking about moving similarly to a trunk. He rose an inch above the ground again, and couldn't help but flail his arms like a windmill until he realized he was moving forward at a sedate pace. He directed himself around slowly for a moment, before trying to increase the speed. That too worked up until the point his foot clipped a rock and he fell face first into the dirt.

Ginny laughed delightedly as Harry stayed prone on the ground, but he too couldn't help but grin if for different reasons. Ginny saw his smile and after getting her laughing under control she asked, "So is there a point to this?"

"Oh yeah. Just watch." Harry replied. He got up and tapped his head, casting the silent _Locomotor_. As he began floating around once again he focused for a moment before incanting, "_Ascendio._" He didn't put much power behind it but still Harry shot twenty meters into the sky. For a moment he believed he had achieved his goal so he directed himself forward with the Locomotor charm. Only seconds later he began to descend rapidly towards the ground and he let out a yell before he felt himself slow dramatically. He looked over at Ginny and saw her pointing her wand at him, so he gave her a grin and a thumbs-up. She lowered her wand and he plopped back onto the ground with an "Oof."

"Needs some work." Harry said as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You're bloody mental. What the hell?" Ginny asked in annoyance.

"Tell me you're not curious how Snape and Riddle did it?"

"No, I'll stick to a broom, thanks." she said, still visibly annoyed. "I'm not helping you hurt yourself." She turned on her heel and started back towards the Burrow.

"Oh come one, Ginny!" he called out to her retreating form. Harry sighed when she didn't stop, but he couldn't help but feel he was close to success.

(S/B)

It took three weeks for MACUSA to pass a bill giving their Chief Auror the authority to appoint a liaison to S.H.I.E.L.D. President Quahog met with the no-maj President of the USA to find out what the scope of the intelligence agency was, and when he reported back to MACUSA the witches and wizards of their legislature were concerned, to say the least. With Harry's testimony as an 'Expert Witness' many believed it was only the fact that there was an increasing number of no-majs with strange powers that prevented S.H.I.E.L.D from noticing the wizarding world.

Accidental magic was normally mild in nature, but sometimes a first-gen would accomplish something with it that couldn't be ignored. Wizarding governments were extremely proficient at detecting it and even better at covering it up, but it would still only be a matter of time until a no-maj intelligence agency specifically designed for finding and explaining the previously unexplainable would notice something was amiss.

At Harry's insistence the bill included a clause that would allow the liaison to be an outside consultant so that he wouldn't need to be employed directly by MACUSA. He did this for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the desire to be able to act without fear of breaking the regulations set by MACUSA for its employees. S.H.I.E.L.D clearly involved itself in the protection of its member countries much more intimately than just information gathering, and that's exactly what Harry wanted to do as well. What he didn't say was that he got the idea from S.H.I.E.L.D itself, having been told that Stark had the same deal with the muggle organization.

After the bill was passed Harry was immediately appointed to the position by Viho to much applause. Harry, of course, accepted graciously and did a press conference with President Quahog about the responsibilities he would be taking on. Some of the gathered reporters seemed skeptical that such a move was necessary, but nearly all of them were elated that a Potter was once again employed by MACUSA, directly or not.

It was a trying day for Harry, dealing with governments always was, but he was happy to have a definite path forward. He generally felt little compunction in regards to breaking laws in order to help people, but it did save him a headache when he didn't need to do so.

Now all he needed to do was think of a way to contact Fury on neutral ground. As he stood, sipping his tea on the roof of his flat, he noticed Stark tower was nearly complete once again.

It would be a good place to start.

(S/B)

Harry landed on the railing of the Stark Tower landing platform in his animagus form the next morning, hoping the man was there. Thankfully Harry immediately noticed Tony standing at a desk, looking at a holographic representation of the tower. Mentally deciding how he wanted the interaction to go, Harry flew up to the roof of the tower and changed form. He quickly applied the stealth-package and stepped off the roof, simultaneously casting an _Arresto Momentum_ on himself. Silently he landed on the platform outside of the room Tony was in and knocked on the glass door.

Tony looked up in confusion and stared directly at Harry, though he couldn't see the wizard. He shook his head and returned his attention to the hologram he was fiddling with. Harry knocked again, a little louder this time. Tony looked to the door again with narrowed eyes, before finally walking to it.

As Tony stepped outside Harry positioned himself behind the other man and released his spells.

"Hey Tony." Harry said.

Tony spun around and took a hasty step back, his eyes widened in surprise. "Houdini! Are you trying to give a guy a heart-attack?"

"You'll be fine. Can't you just build yourself another one?" Harry asked with a wave at the man's chest.

Tony looked down at the arc-reactor in his chest with a contemplative expression. "Artificial organs, there's an idea."

Harry chuckled and said, "The tower's looking good. I noticed you haven't put your name back up, yet."

"Yeah, you haven't been around. I was thinking about naming it Avengers Tower. Come in." Tony said as he walked back inside.

"You're really leaning into this Avengers thing, aren't you?" Harry asked as he looked around the room.

Tony walked over to the bar and started mixing liquids together. "You saw what we were fighting, right?" he asked. "Drink?"

"It's nine in the morning, Tony."

"Is it?" Tony asked, glancing at his watch. "I didn't sleep."

Harry walked over to the bar, sat on the stool across from Tony, and looked him in the eye. "You look like the invasion was yesterday."

"That seems harsh." Tony said as he raised the glass of alcohol to his lips before looking at it. He shook his head and set it on the counter.

"Have you eaten?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, I had breakfast with Pepper," Tony looked at his watch again, "yesterday."

"And where is Miss Potts now?"

"Malibu." Tony replied. "I'm heading back in a week."

Harry sighed. "Were you planning on eating or sleeping during that week?"

"I'm sure I would have at some point." Tony said defensively from behind the bar. "JARVIS usually orders something for me."

"Jarvis?"

"Hello, Mister Potter." a bodiless voice said in a sophisticated British accent.

Harry looked up and around the high-tech room he was in. "Hello, Mister Jarvis."

"Just JARVIS." Tony said. "He's an artificial intelligence I designed. Runs almost as much of my life as Pepper does."

"I have ordered breakfast, sir." JARVIS said.

"Thanks." Tony said distractedly. "So what can I help you with Houdini? I didn't think you'd actually come back."

Harry quirked an eyebrow. "I said I would, didn't I?"

"And then you disappeared for a month after Point Break left."

"Point Break?" Harry asked in confusion.

"Thor, God of Thunder, remember?" Tony said as he walked away from the bar, back to the hologram he'd been playing with.

"Hard to forget." Harry said with a chuckle, following the man. "Well, you're looking at MACUSA's new liaison to S.H.I.E.L.D."

"What the hell is a muh-cooz-uh?" Tony asked without even looking up.

"I'd really rather only tell this story once." Harry said, inspecting the hologram that was now showing different armor designs. "That's actually why I'm here. Can you set up a meeting with the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D? Fury, right?"

"Yeah, Fury. You sure you want to do that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" Harry asked with some confusion.

Tony finally stopped what he was doing and looked at Harry. "Once he knows about you, he won't let go."

"Sorry, I'm not sure I follow."

Tony shook his head and sat on a stool near his desk. "He's a spy. He's_ thee _spy. He takes people and manipulates them however he wants. The Avengers is his brainchild, but we were only plan B."

"The weapons?" Harry asked, assuming the research facility in the Mojave had been plan A.

"How do you know about them?" Tony asked through narrowed eyes.

Harry shrugged and sat on the other side of the desk. "I saw them. Did they give up on them so quickly?"

"Knowing Fury? Probably not." Tony said as he put his face in the palms of his hands. "That's all we need. Stronger, more powerful weapons." He rubbed his palms into his eyes, as if trying to erase something he'd witnessed.

"You don't think we do?" Harry asked neutrally. "You saw what we were fighting, right?"

"Of course I saw!" Tony said in frustration, once again looking at Harry. "How could I miss an _actual _God and his brother tear apart this city with an alien army! And I saw you punch a hole straight through that army!" He stood and began pacing as Harry watched. "There was no way I was making it through them with the nuke, and then I see you riding one of those _things_. I thought you were more suicidal than I was! But you just pointed at them and they fucking vanished!"

Harry watched with concern as Tony ranted about the battle. Clearly the man was barely holding it together, nearly ready to have a major nervous breakdown. It took a few minutes of cursing and ranting before Tony let out a heavy sigh and sat back on his stool.

"How are you so calm about this?" Tony asked after a few deep breaths.

Harry shrugged. He didn't want to say anything that would send Tony past the breaking point. "I know this wasn't your first fight." Harry started calmly. "I've seen some of the videos of what you've done." Tony waved his hand in a 'go on' gesture, so Harry complied. "So how was this time different?" he asked neutrally.

Tony just stared at Harry, his jaw having dropped open. "How is it.." he trailed off, dumbfounded. "How is it different?" Harry nodded his head. "Do I really need to repeat myself?" Tony asked incredulously. "We fought an actual alien army."

"Other than where the enemy came from, how was it different?" Harry asked in clarification.

Tony continued to stare at Harry, though his eyes were looking through him now. "I've always faced technology that I could understand, that I could counter." he finally said after a few minutes of thinking. "Gods straight out of myths? Aliens that already travel the stars? And you," Tony said, once again focusing on Harry, "I don't even know what you are. Are you even from Earth?"

"Born and raised." Harry said with a nod.

"I can't even pretend to know what you did." Tony said with a shake of his head. "One second you're standing on one of the leviathans, flying straight at their army, the next.. The ones in front of you are just gone. How do I keep up with that?" he asked rhetorically. "I'm just a man in a can."

"Is that what you're doing here?" Harry asked with a wave at the desk. Tony looked at Harry with some confusion. "Making a better can?"

Tony actually chuckled a little, some of the tension leaving him. "Yeah, I have to, right? You said there would be more."

"There will be." Harry said with a nod. "So who's going to fly them?"

"What?" Tony asked with a quirked eyebrow. "Me, who else?"

"You?" Harry asked skeptically, his eyes traveling up and down the pallid man. "Not like this you're not."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Tony asked with a little annoyance.

"You look like you're about to drop dead, Tony." Harry said as he stood. "Eat something, sleep for a few hours." he continued as he walked towards the door, "You're useless if you kill yourself just designing new cans."

Tony was now looking at his hands, seemingly ignoring Harry. When he didn't think the other man would respond Harry continued, "And set up a meeting with Fury. Preferably Avengers only."

Tony finally looked at Harry again. "So you're in this with us?" he asked, almost hopefully. "An Avenger?"

As Harry opened the door leading outside he shrugged. "Yeah, I guess I am. Expect my owl." he said with a wink, simultaneously casting a surreptitious Disillusionment charm.

"Owl?" Tony asked the now empty room.

**A/N:** This chapter feels like mostly procedural stuff to me, but it's important, right?

My first try at writing a relationship that's less than 100% platonic. This isn't a Harry/Ginny story (and she probably won't even show up again) but they are adults with a complicated past.

I thought last chapter fit better all together without this one breaking up the end of the battle and Thor leaving. That leaves us with weird time skipping around, let me know if that was a dumb idea.

Thank you for your continued reading (and interaction if you're so inclined.) I appreciate it greatly.


	9. Chapter 9

Don't own anything Marvel, Harry Potter, or any other references you recognize.

Chapter 9

Harry sat at his desk in his New York flat with various objects orbiting around him: his golden snitch, his wand, his Weasley Watch, the Deluminator that Ron had given him when he'd first left Britain. 'So you'll be able to find your way back to us,' Ron had said. Hermione had upgraded him to the emotional range of a tablespoon then. Harry had never been too concerned with material possessions, but like his Cloak of Invisibility it quickly became one of the few things he cherished.

He was currently gazing with unfocused eyes out the window that overlooked Washington Square Park. It was no Central Park, true, but he'd chosen this flat for its view of a little piece of greenery in an otherwise concrete jungle. Spending much of his formative years living in the Scottish Highlands had given him a need for nature. It relaxed him, helped him center himself when he was otherwise distressed.

And he was distressed, at least a little bit.

Loki's staff, full length and gleaming dangerously, turned lazily in the air before him, floating just above his outstretched left hand. He'd cast every detection spell that he could think of and the results of which were at fault for his current state.

It was composed of a foreign metal that as far as he could tell had never been seen on Earth until the staff's arrival here. The metal seemed capable of channeling certain energies of the Mystic Arts, but slightly more surprisingly his own magic as well. Just as Thor's hammer, Mjolnir, had been able to. That itself wasn't terribly unique. He was under no delusion that the sentient beings of Earth had discovered every metal in the universe, and plenty that they had were capable of channeling magic. Gold, Silver, even Aluminium was capable of it.

The true mystery was in the gem. It was egg-shaped and gave off a distinct blue glow identical to that of the Tesseract, indicating that its power must come from the container of the Space Stone. And indeed it did produce dark energy readings similar to the cube, if to a much lower degree. The problem came from the other energy it produced.

At first he'd assumed he'd made a mistake. How could the gem be producing Delta and Theta waves? He returned to Kamar-Taj to brush up on his understanding of the activity of a brain during rest and meditation, and came to a harrowing conclusion.

The gem was.. sleeping.

A brief spike of Beta waves preceded a pressure on Harry's mind. If he hadn't spent the first seventeen years of his life mentally connected to a Dark Lord he likely would have never even noticed it, but he had and did. Harry's eyes snapped into focus, staring back at the gem, and he pushed back. After only a moment the pressure receded and the gem was once again producing only Delta and Theta waves.

It turns out that not being a moody little git was the best thing you could do to learn Occlumency. Killing the parasite attached to his mind being the second best, though they weren't mutually exclusive.

Harry quickly banished the staff back to the sub-dimension he'd created specifically for its safe storage and stood from his desk. He snatched his watch out of the air and noticed he'd missed a night of sleep again. He'd feel more like a hypocrite if meditation didn't allow him to rejuvenate much more quickly than actual sleep. It was just past six in the morning so he decided to go out and find something to eat. He'd been enough of a hermit for the past few days, stalling more than anything.

Harry attached a short note to his owl and set it off with, "To Tony Stark, try not to be seen." His owl yipped at him in confirmation before soaring through the open window.

With that he secured his flat and disapparated.

(S/B)

Diurn Alley was fairly new by a British Wizard's standards, but Harry thought it still held the same awe-inspiring splendor of Diagon Alley. The entrance to said magical shopping district was located through an ancient looking red oak door set into the office building just across the street from the Woolworth Building. Unlike Diagon Alley there was no pub on the other side, instead opening into a large cafe named The Cauldron Press that served the MACUSA witches and wizards hustling to work.

Also unlike Diagon Alley, Diurn Alley had been opened to the muggles of New York, if only briefly, during the Chitauri invasion. It had acted as a safe haven to muggles and magicals alike, and the Obliviators of MACUSA had earned a good bit of overtime pay sorting them apart once everything was safe.

Harry sat in The Cauldron press that morning, considering the discussion that he was soon to have while sipping a perpetually hot cup of tea. Every once in a while a customer would recognize him and greet him, one young child even asking for an autograph, but generally he was left alone. He also quickly found himself growing bored and envious. Envious of the others streaming in and out, looking as if wherever they needed to be was the most important place to go.

Unemployment wasn't something Harry was accustomed to, and he was finding it didn't agree with him very much. Ever since turning eighteen he had been constantly busy. From training, and healing, at Kamar-Taj to Auror training he'd always had a task to accomplish. There was always something next to grab his attention, but now that he'd resigned from the Aurors his time was his own.

Thankfully he'd been appointed to a new position, Liaison to S.H.I.E.L.D, but the time-frame and duties were up to him. With his letter to Tony all he had to do now was wait.

After nearly two hours of sipping tea and exploring the magical shopping district his phone finally started to vibrate. Harry quickly made his way towards the exit of the alley and flipped his phone open.

(S/B)

"Tony?"

"You sent me an owl."

"I said I would, didn't I?" Harry asked into his mobile-phone.

"I thought you were joking. Why an owl? A messenger pigeon might at least make sense if it didn't find me at the airport," Tony replied.

"Why would I use a pigeon?" Harry asked, slightly confused. "Anyway, one of these days you'll start believing me when I tell you something," he said as he walked away from Diurn Alley.

"Well she snuck onto my plane. I didn't even know she was there until we'd already taken off," Tony said. Harry could hear his owl in the background yipping like a young dog. "She's laughing at me.."

"She's a he," Harry said with a chuckle. "His name's Aloysius, take good care of him for me. He can be a little mischievous."

"JARVIS can't even tell what type of owl it is."

"He's a laughing owl."

"Laughing owl. What-? Are you Sure?" Tony asked away from the phone. "JARVIS says laughing owls are extinct, Houdini."

"Maybe to muggles," Harry said with a unseen shrug.

"Mug- alright. That's it, Fury'll be at my house in Malibu tomorrow. I'll send you the address, can you be there?"

"Sure, what about everyone else?"

"Cap, Legolas, and Romanoff are all on missions. Bruce is, somewhere, so it'll just be Fury and Agent Hill," Tony replied.

"Agent Hill?"

"Fury's number two after, well, you know," Tony said in a quieter voice.

"Right," Harry said, asking no further. "That should be fine. The others will just have to get the story later, then."

"So we're finally getting the whole story?" Tony asked, quickly regaining his upbeat attitude. "You're more mysterious than Romanoff, and she posed as my secretary when I first met her. I haven't been able to find anything on a 'Harry Potter' with your description. You might as well not even exist."

Harry just chuckled once again and replied, "You can wait one more night, Tony. See you tomorrow." He then hung up the phone and made his way back to his flat. He had some preparations to make.

(S/B)

Maria Hill, Deputy Director of S.H.I.E.L.D, was best know for her pragmatism and she felt her reputation was well earned. After working her way up the ranks of the U.S. Military she'd been tapped by Nicholas Fury for the, at the time, lesser known intelligence agency. Again she quickly became one of the best in the organization, rising to second in command much quicker than even she'd expected.

At first it'd been a challenge to continue to use her well-honed reasoning ability when dealing with mutants and aliens, amongst other curiosities. But eventually she realized they too could be understood if one just opened their view of the universe a little. She had thought that she once again understood the Avengers and their various abilities: Stark and his suits, Banner and his science experiment gone wrong. Thor was the most difficult of course, but aliens with extraordinary powers wasn't exactly new to her.

Then she saw footage of one that she hadn't interacted with yet. A flying motorcycle that sometimes had brick walls for exhaust was seemingly unexplainable. The ability to project energy capable of destroying nearly an entire alien army could be a mutant ability, albeit one of the stronger she had ever seen, but the problem was that was only a small portion of this new man's abilities. The most likely explanation was perhaps that he was an alien posing as a human, using unknown tech to imitate abilities. It wouldn't be the first time S.H.I.E.L.D had dealt with such a situation.

Still, it would only take her one conversation with the man and she could go back to her logical perception of the world. And today she would get that chance. Officially she was there to give him a psych evaluation and index him. Unofficially, she just rather disliked unsolved mysteries.

Director Fury was standing at the window, staring out seemingly lost in thought. Whether brooding or enjoying Stark's admittedly magnificent view she didn't know, but neither would surprise her. Stark was offering drinks and talking with his A.I., and didn't that have terrifying implications. All they had to do was wait for the man of the hour.

Eventually Maria heard a well known Black Sabbath song and she had to fight the urge to roll her eyes at Stark's ego once again. If she gave into the impulse she was sure they'd never stop spinning.

Stark answered and begrudgingly put it on speaker phone when she raised an eyebrow at him.

"Harry, we're here waiting for you," Stark said.

"I thought it might be best to do this at mine," the voice replied. "It will make some things more, believable, I guess."

Fury finally turned away from the window to stare at Stark, as if this inconvenience was some how his fault.

"Do you have a place in California? Where do you live, anyway?" Tony asked, ignoring the three eyes on him.

"I have a few places, but my house in London is-" 'Harry' was replying before being cut off by Fury.

"I don't enjoy having my time wasted," Fury said in his usual curt way. "A flight to London would do just that."

"Oh, no flight necessary. I'll take care of transportation, just step outside Tony's house. It's part of my attempt to convince you of what I'm about to tell you," Harry said.

Stark finally looked at the two S.H.I.E.L.D agents and shrugged.

"Very well," Fury said with a nod, already walking for the door.

With that Stark hung up the phone and the trio made their way to the front door. Maria had seen footage of his portals, whatever they were, so she wasn't exactly surprised by his admission that he had a way from Malibu to London instantaneously. However, she was surprised to see a seemingly nondescript wooden door just yards from Stark's own front door. Nondescript if one ignored the way it floated inches off the ground attached to nothing else.

"This is a little too Stephen King for me," Maria said, walking around the door. It even disappeared when viewed from the other side.

"Didn't take you for a horror fan, Agent Hill," Fury said without looking away from the door.

"Do we knock?" Stark asked in a joking manner.

Instead of replying Fury turned the door nob, pulled it open, and stepped through. Stark merely shrugged and followed through with an owl from seemingly out of nowhere soaring right over his head.

Maria hesitated for only a moment before following. Of course the door closed behind her with a snap, completing the picture, and she was left standing in the most ancient looking library she'd ever seen.

(S/B)

Harry stood in the library of Grimmauld Place under a disillusionment charm and watched his three guests step through the door. What he'd just done was technically of the Mystic Arts, but he wasn't interested in distinguishing them from Magic today. As far as S.H.I.E.L.D was concerned they would be considered the same thing, at least when it came to what Harry could do.

He watched curiously, wanting to know how they would react to a new environment. Tony unsurprisingly began perusing the books that lined the various shelves, though he at least seemed to know better than to touch anything. The other man, Director Fury, was scanning the room obviously searching for Harry himself. Fury's outfit made Harry want to laugh a little as his trench-coat and suit underneath could pass as wizarding wear in MACUSA territory.

The only female of the group, Agent Hill, did a bit of both. Harry was surprised to find that he recognized her from the incident in the Mojave where she worked closely with Phil. She reached out to touch the furry spine of The Monster Book of Monsters before it began to quietly growl at her, so she moved down the line. As she was about to grab a different book Harry finally decided to reveal himself.

"I wouldn't touch that if I were you," he said as he let his disillusionment charm fade. "You won't be able to put it down."

Agent Hill quickly withdrew her hand and turned with the others to look at Harry.

"That good?" she asked, glancing back at the book.

"No, well yes, but I meant that literally," Harry replied.

"I'm a quick reader," Agent Hill retorted.

"I hope you know how to read Egyptian Hieroglyphics, then," Harry said with a smile.

"You do?" Tony asked curiously.

"I learned. Please, have a seat," Harry said, indicating the four plush armchairs surrounding a small tea table. "Can I offer tea, or something else to drink?" he asked as they took their seats. Before anyone could respond four cups and a pot of tea faded into view. Kreacher was obviously lurking nearby. Harry waved his hand and the pot began serving itself.

Harry took a sip of his tea before continuing, "Director Fury, Agent Hill, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name, if you haven't been told, is Harry Potter."

"Likewise," Fury said, ignoring the floating pot. "That you convinced two of my agents to keep even that from me is more than a little frustrating."

"I think that was Steve's doing more than my own," Harry said, happy that his new teammates could keep a secret. "So, how do we want to do this?"

"What is it you think this is?" Hill asked after glancing at the tea in front of them. Only Tony so far had drank any, though he didn't seem like much of a tea drinker.

"Well, I know you have questions," Harry replied, not exactly answering the question. "Do you want to ask them? Or should I just start from the top?"

"What I want to know first," Fury said as he hunched forward, elbows on his knees, eye focused on Harry, "is why my best agent used his dying breath to give me your number."

"Right, figured we'd start there," Harry said as his eyes dropped to his tea. He looked up into Fury's eye and continued, "About a week before the invasion I approached Agent Coulson after he visited Tony in Manhattan. I convinced him that I could help in the detaining of Loki should it be necessary."

"Wait," Tony said, cutting across Harry's explanation. "Are you the reason that camera in my lobby failed?"

"Sorry about that," Harry affirmed with a grin and nod.

"And how did you 'convince' him?" Fury asked. "Like I said, he was my best agent. Gaining is trust like that couldn't have been easy."

"I revealed to him that I'm the one responsible for the recovery of your people from the destroyed base in the Mojave," Harry said plainly.

Fury sat up straight at that, tensing slightly. "Do you have any proof of that?" he asked.

Harry shrugged and said, "Not much. Agent Hill did speculate that an Asgardian may have followed Loki and saved them."

Fury looked to the woman and she nodded at the unasked question. "He's right," she said to Fury. "How did you know that?"

"I detected the energy of the Tesseract activating," Harry said, " and went to find out what happened. When I found the facility buried I did what I could to help and then stuck around to find out the cause. That's when I learned that Loki was responsible for the destruction."

"And you just believed that a god out of Norse myth had come to Earth?" Fury asked skeptically.

"I'm going to be as upfront as possible," Harry said, spreading his hands, knowing every answered question would only raise more questions. "I've known Asgardians were on Earth once again since the Bifrost events in New Mexico. The energy output of the Bifrost Bridge isn't exactly subtle, and I was sent to investigate. From there your agents led me back to the research facility in the Mojave."

"Sent by who?" Hill asked. "MI6?"

"More importantly," Fury interjected with a narrowed eye, "exactly how much of our operation are you spying on?"

"Spying is such a harsh word," Harry said, holding back a wince. "Though not entirely inaccurate. I've really only observed your organization in those two instances, and only because of what it was you were investigating yourselves. Agent Hill asks a much more difficult question to answer."

"Why is that?" she asked.

"Because it circles back to why we're having this conversation," Harry said. "I told you that I would be trying to convince you of something. To answer that question is going to take a lot of convincing."

"Try," Fury said curtly as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.

"I assume one of your other questions was going to be how am I capable of the things I am," Harry started.

"We have theories," Hill said with a nod.

"And what does that have to do with who sent you?" Fury asked.

"Well, I'm a wizard," Harry said bluntly. He'd never had the opportunity to reveal the wizarding world to muggles and he thought three people as intelligent as his guests would respond best to a nonverbal _Episkey_, as Poppy sometimes liked to say. "And I was sent by other wizards."

There was a beat of silence as the other three processed what he'd said. Hill had cocked an eyebrow, Fury somehow narrowed his eye even further. But Tony, Tony looked at him with consternation.

"So not Houdini," Tony said as he shook his head, "but Dresden. Cap was right."

Harry shrugged and said, "I never actually read those books."

Tony nodded, deep in thought as if this was much more important than Harry's revelation. "Dresden would be much taller than you. Gandalf? Too old," he muttered to himself.

"And Gandalf was technically a divine being of some sort," Harry added.

"Merlin?" Tony asked, looking at Harry speculatively.

"I'm not that narcissistic, he was a much better wizard than me," Harry said with a chuckle.

"Wait, Merlin was real?" Tony asked in surprise.

"Oh yeah, he was-" Harry started, only to be cut off by Fury.

"A wizard," he said disbelievingly. "Sent by what? A council of wizards?" he asked with what seemed to be annoyance.

Harry shook his head and replied, "More like a government of witches and wizards."

"Witches?" Hill asked with an amused smile.

"Well men are wizards, women are witches of course," Harry said with his own smile.

"Of course," Hill agreed with a laugh. "You certainly get points for originality."

"I told you I didn't like having my time wasted," Fury said, clearly not as amused as his partner. "If you brought us here just to screw with us-"

"I didn't," Harry said, cutting Fury off. "I brought you here to establish a working relationship between S.H.I.E.L.D and MACUSA, one of the governments of our hidden society. "

"Muh-cooz-uh," Tony said, repeating the foreign word. "I haven't been able to find any references to whatever that is after you told me you're their new liaison."

Harry nodded and said, "You wouldn't, not on the internet anyway. M-A-C-U-S-A, and no I don't know why it's pronounced that way, stands for the Magical Congress of the United States of America."

"Assuming we believe you, and I don't," Fury said, "Why now? If your society has been hiding from us, why reveal yourself to us now?"

"And why hide in the first place?" Hill added on.

"If the year 1692 means anything to you, you'll understand why we hid ourselves," Harry said to Hill.

Tony of course began typing rapidly into his phone and his eyebrows rose at whatever he read. "The Salem Witch Trials? You mean they were actually executing witches?" he asked, looking up at Harry.

"And wizards," Harry said with a nod. "It's the most famous instance, but to us it was the straw that broke the proverbial camel's back. For centuries before that we were hunted and executed for our magic. It was also around 1692 that we made our final attempt to gain recognition and protection under non-magical governments, and failed. So the Statute of Secrecy was enacted and the magical communities of the world formed their own governments for the first time with the singular goal of hiding from the muggles that hated us."

Hill looked a little sad at Harry's tale and shook her head before saying, "It wouldn't be the first time a persecuted group of people hid themselves away."

"Wait, you believe him?" Fury asked in a way that made it clear he thought she was mad.

"Well no, I still need proof. But that much at least makes sense, doesn't it?" Hill asked, shrugging her shoulders at Fury.

"Proof will come," Harry said with a nod. "As to why now? Technically we already have. Your own President is well aware of us, as is the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, among other world leaders."

"The President?" Fury asked, and received a nod. "As in the President of the United States of America, one of my bosses?"

"That's the one," Harry agreed.

"So if I call him, he'll confirm this?" Fury asked, reaching for his phone.

"Go ahead," Harry said with a shrug. "Ask him who President Quahog is."

Fury stood and began tapping the screen of his phone, shaking his head slightly. He walked away from the group a little to gain a bit of privacy.

"You at least seem to believe me," Harry said to Tony with a smile.

Tony shrugged and said, "Thor said magic and science are the same thing on Asgard. We just don't understand whatever it is you do yet. I'm just happy you're not another alien."

"What's the quote?" Harry asked rhetorically. "Sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. The problem is Asgardian magic and my own are distinct in important ways."

"How's that?" Hill asked curiously.

"On Asgard, and all of the known realms, no one is _born_ magical," Harry said with certainty. "As far as I've been able to find the witches and wizards of Earth, among other creatures and beings, are the only ones born with an innate talent and connection to Magic. Where more advanced societies use science and technology to manipulate the energies of the universe to imitate magic, we, for whatever reason, naturally access a different type of energy."

"As far as you know," Tony said a touch smugly. "You've never had a genius like me test you."

Harry sighed and reluctantly agreed, "So far as I know, yes. But I assure you some very smart witches and wizards have spent their entire lives studying why we're different."

Fury chose that moment to return. He looked a little less surly than he had been before, when he'd thought Harry was just jerking them around.

"So?" Hill asked Fury as he sat back down.

Fury shook his head and finally took a sip of his tea. "This is still hot," he exclaimed with some surprise, examining the cup in his hand. "Would still prefer coffee, though."

"Heating charm on the cup," Harry said with a shrug as a cup of coffee faded into view in front of Fury.

"Beer," Tony said to the table, and a moment later an open bottle of butterbeer faded into existence.

"Are you doing that?" Hill asked Harry.

"No," Harry said with a slight shake of his head. "That would be my house-elf. A magical being that shares a symbiotic relationship with witches and wizards. Kreacher!" he called out.

The aging house-elf stuck his head out from behind Fury's seat, remaining out of view of the three non-magicals. "Master?"

"Say hello to our guests, Kreacher," Harry said while the others looked at him like he was insane.

"Half-blood Master wants Kreacher to reveal himself to the muggles?" the elf asked skeptically.

"Please," Harry said with a nod. Kreacher hesitantly stepped into view and Hill let out a small gasp.

"Wow," Tony said, examining the elf. "It's really an elf."

"_He_ is an elf, yes," Harry corrected.

"You named him Kreacher?" Fury asked, showing no signs of being overly surprised by the new being.

"Oh no, not me," Harry said. "Kreacher is much older than the four of us combined. Thank you Kreacher." The elf nodded and faded away. Harry clapped his hands together and continued, "So, you believe me now, yes?"

"The President was quite, happy, to have someone to talk to about all of this," Fury said with a short nod. "He's as curious as I am why S.H.I.E.L.D is being brought in on the secret now."

Harry nodded and took a sip of tea to get his thoughts together. A moment later he said, "When I discovered the Tesseract within the Mojave facility-"

"Wait," Fury said, cutting him off, "You got _inside_ of the facility without us knowing?"

"Yes," Harry said bluntly. "But I wouldn't worry too much, my partner at the time and I are likely the only ones capable of doing so."

"Confident, aren't you?" Hill asked, halfway between amused and annoyed.

"Realistic. I assume Agents Hill and Barton are your best agents?" he asked, and received two nods. "We were the two best Aurors, essentially equivalent to your agents just with magic to help."

"Were?" Fury asked, quickly regaining his surly attitude now that he knew his facilities weren't as secure as he'd hoped.

"She's riding a desk now. I quit."

"Quit when she got the promotion over you, eh?" Tony asked teasingly after a gulp of butterbeer.

"I was getting to that," Harry said, thankful for the man's unintentional breaking of a bit of the new tension. "When I discovered that the Tesseract was activated I knew it was only a matter of time until something came looking for it."

"Thor said something similar," Tony said, glancing at Fury. "Said that it was S.H.I.E.L.D's work with the Tesseract that drew Loki to Earth."

"He was partially right," Harry said. "It was in 1942 that the Tesseract was first activated. During World War II, a mentor told me."

"It's why S.H.I.E.L.D was formed," Hill said, and Harry looked at her curiously. "An offshoot of the Nazis, called Hydra, were studying it among other objects of unknown origin. S.H.I.E.L.D was created to study and contain such objects."

"Well normally it's the Auror's job to remove obviously magical artifacts from non-magical possession, but due to the nature of your organization my partner and I determined that it would be impossible to remove the Tesseract without exposing ourselves," Harry said, steering the conversation back into focus. "I knew the consequences of it's activation and began lobbying MACUSA, the British Ministry of Magic, as well as the ICW, essentially our United Nations, to make contact with S.H.I.E.L.D."

"And like any good government they said no until it was too late," Tony guessed.

"Got it in one," Harry agreed.

"So you quit and contacted Agent Coulson," Fury said, continuing the narrative.

"It was the morning after the destruction of your facility," Harry said with a tense nod. "I felt guilty, it was my call to leave the Tesseract there, and I was emotionally compromised. But the next day it still felt like the right decision so I made contact with Agent Coulson. After that the invasion happened and MACUSA was only prepared because of my insistence."

"They helped during the invasion?" Hill asked.

"Their headquarters is in Manhattan, so they did what they could," Harry said. "As far as I know they helped evacuate a little over a hundred non-magicals. It took some time after that for them to appoint me liaison to S.H.I.E.L.D, and here we are."

"Here we are," Fury agreed. "What now? What is it your people want with S.H.I.E.L.D?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D has shown itself to be adept at unraveling the mysteries of the world," Harry said, earning himself a smirk from Hill. "Many are convinced it's inevitable that soon you'll notice first-gens and their accidental magic."

"First-gens?" Tony asked.

"Magicals born to non-magical parents," Harry clarified.

"That's possible?" Fury asked, looking too intrigued for Harry's comfort.

"Nearly a quarter of our population are first-gens," Harry said with a nod. "It's MACUSA's hope that with S.H.I.E.L.D leadership in on the secret you'll have no need to study any first-gens you come across. Really it shouldn't happen, we have ways of detecting them at birth and concealing them from there. It's also their hope that you'll turn over any magical artifacts you come across for their safekeeping and disposal, if necessary."

"You seem to be asking for a lot here," Hill said.

"Besides that you won't keep any files, digital or paper, on the existence of the Wizarding World," Harry said. "I'm sure you already have a file on me, considering the public nature of the invasion, and that's fine. But the secret of our existence is to be limited to you two and the Avengers," Harry said, indicating Hill and Fury.

"And what do we get?" Fury asked.

Harry spread his hands and said, "Me. I'll be S.H.I.E.L.D's consultant on anything and everything mystical, magical, and otherwise inexplicable. And of course I'll be available for situations that require the Avengers."

"That's what you actually want, isn't it?" Hill asked, looking directly into Harry's eyes. He tilted his head to the side, silently asking her to continue. "You broke _thee_ law of your people, the only reason you have governments in the first place is to hide from us. But you couldn't sit idly by when people were in danger. The fact that it's now legal is of lesser importance."

Harry sighed but nodded slightly. "You're not wrong. MACUSA had to include a clause that retroactively applied the law to my actions during the invasion, but I would have helped either way. But I do have a life, and ending up in a jail cell isn't on my to-do list."

"Agent Hill, your assessment?" Fury asked his partner.

"Their demands aren't especially stringent," she started, "And may even be beneficial to S.H.I.E.L.D if we can learn how to detect magic in the attempt to turn over magical artifacts. It wouldn't be the first thing we've compartmentalized like this."

"That means secrets," Tony stage whispered to Harry, making him laugh quietly.

"Participation in the fighting during the invasion could suggest self-destructive tendencies," Hill continued, ignoring Tony's ongoing commentary.

"They said the same thing about me," Tony whispered with a scoff.

"But performance suggests prior combat experience."

"The latter," Harry said, finally gaining the other two's attention. "Aurors are primarily Dark Wizard catchers, and I was among the best. But, well, we have wars, too."

"You're a veteran?" Fury asked curiously.

"I am," Harry confirmed.

Hill nodded and finished, "He's a prime candidate for the Avengers. Threat level similar to Thor, but I have no idea how to index his abilities."

"Just keep adding to it whenever he shows us something new," Fury said, waving her off. "Alright, only you'll be on the books, and we'll contact you for anything we find that might be 'magical,'" he said, with finger quotes. "And you'll need a code name, we'll keep your identity secret as long as possible."

"Code name?" Harry asked.

"Yeah, like Iron Man," Tony started, listing with his fingers. "Black Widow, Hawkeye, the Hulk. Thor is just Thor, which is lame."

"Is that really necessary?" Harry asked skeptically.

"For marketing, if nothing else," Tony said with a shrug. "Toys, apparel, you know, the normal stuff."

"You're way too into this," Harry said, shaking his head. He thought for a few moments, sipping his tea. Hill and Fury were now standing a bit away from the chairs, having a whispered discussion. Tony was tapping away at his phone, every once in a while giving Harry a suggestion that the wizard barely heard.

He had an idea, and if any of the weirder myths were true Thor would at least get a kick out of it. He would be revealing one of his secrets, but they were allies now. Besides, they wouldn't know he could only easily turn into one thing. "Raven," he finally said.

Hill and Fury turned away from their conversation, and Tony looked up from his phone.

"Raven?" Hill asked. "Why Raven?"

Harry stood from his seat and allowed himself to melt away. Once fully transformed he took to the air, made a few laps around the room, and finally landed on the back of his chair.

"Oh, that's good," Tony said.

**A/N:** Let me know what you think.

Aloysius (pronounced Al-oh-ish-us) is the Latin form of the name Ludwig, which is the male form of the name Hedwig. (All based off my ability to google things.)

I'm still not 100% on the name Raven, but in the MCU they barely use them anyway, so we'll see how it goes.

This chapter was delayed thanks to life being life. Hopefully it doesn't happen to often, but this is first and foremost a hobby to me. Still, I enjoyed this chapter and I hope you do too.

OpenOffice has been doing this weird thing where it deletes random characters. Quotation marks seem to be the most affected, but I've noticed other things as well. So, I'm sorry for any errors.

Also, if you haven't read Browncoat, Green Eyes by nonjon you definitely should. It got me to finally watch Firefly.

Edit: A guest review pointed out my naming conventions didn't line up right, so Diurnal Alley is now Diurn Alley.


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